The War of Light: The Hunt
by FedoraMike
Summary: Months after witnessing Malachite being dragged to the bottom of the ocean, Steven is in emotional turmoil as he tries to think of how he could have prevented such a fate for Lapis. As he tries to live life, hunt for the loose Peridot, and keep the team together, his entire world is suddenly turned upside-down as the stars he wishes upon send something more physical than a wish.
1. Chapter I: The Voice

**_Greetings, and welcome to a new experience for all Steven Universe fans! We are so glad to have you here, and hope you stick around for this wild ride!_**

 ** _This story aims to give you all an incredible narrative to enjoy, to see all your favourite Steven Universe gems, humans and otherwise, and their new adventures! What adventures, you ask? Why the new adventures they will explore with the altered canon!_**

 ** _This story seeks to show you all something...what if something change? What if one, VERY signifigant event ended up differently, heavily altering the course_ _of Steven and the Crystal Gems' adventures? One very important point of the story that changed?_**

 ** _What is that change in history? Well...you'll have to read to find out, won't you?_ _Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the first chapter in the first Saga of the War of Light!_**

 ** _The Hunt, Chapter I!_**

* * *

...It had been ages. How long since Lapis left?  
How long since that Peridot gem tried to crush him?

And...how long did the others want to hide things from him?  
Steven watched off the edge of the deck of the house, as the waves crashed softly against the shore, wetting the previously dry rocks and the decayed, broken pieces of the Temple that laid in the sand. All he could do was think. Think about everything that'd happened in the last year.

He found a mirror that repeated what he said. It was fun at first, until...he found out it held hostage a gem named Lapis Lazuli.  
She fought, nearly killed him, his father Greg, best friend Connie, and the Crystal Gems,  
until he finally got through to her. He fixed her gem, and she left, returning the ocean she stole.

And that...was after the Crystal Gems grounded him for freeing her. For doing what he thought was the right thing.  
She was so kind to him when he released her, but that attitude turned violent as soon as the gems showed up.  
She mentioned that they KNEW she was in there, and did nothing. And yeah, they did actively try to stop him from having the mirror.  
And...she said they can't be trusted.

...But he still did. Of COURSE he did, they were his family!  
Lapis didn't seem that bad, not at all, but Steven knew for a fact that they cared. They just...kept stuff from him.  
And to be fair...he rarely asked questions. To be perfectly honest, he worried about the kinds of things he'd hear. He knew there was a war before he was born, and...well, he didn't want to know about what the gems had to do. If they didn't tell him, then he probably didn't need to know anyway, right?

...At least, he wanted to believe that last part.  
But ever since Peridot returned to Earth with a huge gem named Jasper and a captured Lapis at her sides...he wasn't so sure anymore.  
They were captured, but just about as quickly they escaped, crashing back on the beach. Peridot escaped with an escape pod, but...  
Lapis, he assumed in an attempt to save him, accepted an offer Jasper made to fuse. The two formed Malachite, but before she could make a move,  
she seemed to trap herself, dragging the fusion down to the bottom of the ocean. He heard her voice before Malachite disappeared. He knew it was Lapis that did it.

...He hadn't seen her since. Not once. And several searches proved useless.  
And Peridot hadn't been seen either. Whether or not that was bad or better...he didn't know.  
But at the very least, he was confident they'd find them both. Find Lapis, handle Jasper...and heck. Peridot didn't seem that bad.  
Steven felt...he could really get through to her. She didn't seem as bad as Jasper. Peridot seemed...different, somehow.

Maybe, if he could just pin her down for a bit to talk, they could really narrow down her problems.  
Convince her to ditch Homeworld, and come to Earth! It was foolproof, sorta...!

"...YOU DON'T REALLY BELIEVE SHE CAN CHANGE, DO YOU?"

He tensed up.

"SHE'LL KILL YOU. SHE WILL GET YOU ALONE AND SHE WILL BREAK YOU."

He shut his eyes.

"SHE BELONGS TO US. SHE KNOWS THAT. SHE'D NEVER CHANGE FOR A DOOMED PLANET."

"No..." The boy shook his head.

"FACET-2F5L CUT-5XG WILL KILL YOU. YOU'LL BE SHATTERED. "

"S...s-stop...!" He continued to shake his head. "Leave me alone...!"

"...OH. OH, I SEE." The horrible voice spoke. "YOU STILL THINK SHE'LL CHANGE. BECAUSE OF FRIENDSHIP, RIGHT?"

A low, horrible chuckle.

"...THAT'S CUTE. VEEEEEEeeeeerry cute." The voice became clearer, more defined. "That you think she can break from our Radiance's will?  
Pathetic. Lazuli turned, and that was unfortunate. But not that bad a loss. You'd be surprised how...expendable, her kind is."

Two hands took his shoulders. They were hot...no, burning-no, SEARING.  
"5XG...is not like Lapis. I feel you know this. I know what 5XG is like. She is, like all Peridots...compliant. She LIKES her position.  
She LIKES Yellow Diamond. And she DOESN'T, like you."

A hand pressed to his neck. Mechanical...separated fingers.  
"So...DIE AT HER HANDS. OR MINE."

They gripped his neck tightly...

And he woke up.  
He didn't scream this time, thankfully, though he quickly realized the house was empty anyways...

It was 2AM. Two in the morning, his clock told him when he looked over.  
...It happened again. This wasn't the first time he'd dreamt of this. Not...at all.

It started with this...feeling. This feeling, deep in his gut, that kept him up at night. He didn't know why he had it, or where he got it, but...  
He felt something was...coming. Something bad. It'd been keeping him up for longer stretches of time he thought of it.

This...black sillouette. Of a girl, he thought...from what he always saw, she was entirely black, and had...had hair, and a body shape that looked female.  
And all those dreams-no, nightmares...always had something scary.

He could be trapped in a narrow hallway, the figure slowly approaching with this...CRAZY grin, being chased through a forest, or he'd be in his house, the exact same house he knew, but...there was fire everywhere. EVERYTHING was burning...and that was only a few examples. And he could swear no matter what the dream showed, he'd almost always see...

Shards. Purple, red, blue, white...even black, green and grey ones...  
He hoped they were just plain nightmares, but...they didn't go away. And they only got worse. Something HAD to be-

"Yo, Steven!"

He jumped slightly. The hybrid gem-human turned, seeing Amethyst entering the house, a box of donuts under one arm, a pink frosted sprinkled donut in the opposite hand.  
The rather thick gem walked into the house, looking up at him from the living room.

"Dude, you're up late again. Still can't sleep?" She hopped up into the air, landing in front of his bed.  
"...Donut?" She offered the box.

"N-no, thanks." He waved a hand. "Hey, Amethyst! Where have you been? Like you said, it's pretty late..."

She shrugged. "Eh. Out. Got some donuts, ate them, got some more donuts...ate them, then got more...kiiinda went on for a while. Be honest,  
thought'cha would be asleep by now. You're usually down by, like, one?"

Ignoring the fact she got donuts at 2AM...he'd rather not think about that.  
"Yeah..." He replied. "It's...that dream again. You know the one."  
In fact, she did. So far, she was the only one that knew. Amethyst made it clear she knew almost as little as he did about the war, and she was always closer to Earth culture than the others, so he talked to her about that stuff more.

"Ooohh." She nodded. "THAT dream. With the shadowy guy?"

He nodded. "It still hasn't stopped. And it's getting worse."  
He hugged his legs as Amethyst hopped onto the bed, sitting down. "I...I saw hands this time. And...a-and they were burning hot, and..."

"Eaasy, dude." Amethyst raised a hand. "And the shadowy guy was there?"

He nodded.  
"...Yeah. They're the one that did it." He said. "Their hands were...on FIRE, and they were saying these really bad things..."  
He sighed. "...I don't know what it means. I don't know why I keep HAVING the dream! It's been happening ever since we saw Peridot last, on that video to Homeworld she recorded?"

Amethyst bit into a donut.  
"So...this ain't stoppin', then." Her words were slightly garbled as she chewed. "Look, Steven...I dunno why it's happening, I dunno how it's important, or if it even IS important, but hey." She put an arm around him. "You know we're here for ya. And if ANYthing comes here, we'll all have it handled.  
Right?"

"...Yeah." He looked up at her with a smile. "I know. It's just...they won't stop. And it all feels so...real. Like something is GONNA happen."  
His smile disappeared as quickly as he gained it. It was unlike the normally cheerful child, but that seemed to be the toll the supposed nightmares took.

"...Then we'll stop it from happening." Amethyst said. "Like that one movie, remember? Where they see visions of bad stuff and they stop it?"  
He remembered it. They prevented...death. Ugh...

He nodded. "I guess so..."  
Steven wanted to agree with her. He wanted to more than anything at that moment. But both he and Amethyst knew...

The people in those movies ALWAYS lose...

"...Look, Steven. I know this crap has been bugging you for a while. I get it. But, like...you've been holed up for a few days.  
I know this all probably has something to do with Peridot, and Lapis, and all that stuff. But hey. You gotta remember there's people out there worryin'. Connie came 'round the other day. Greg did, too. Even Lars and Sadie asked where you've been when I was out yesterday."

"...I know. I'm just...trying to get a feel for what this is all about. If it's real, if it means anything, y'know?"

"Yeah, I get it. But you're not giving up, right?"

He shook his head.  
"Of course not. I just think I need to get a wrap on this stuff. It's all distracting, and it has SOMEthing to do with Peridot...I need to talk to her, next time we see her. Maybe she'll know?"

Amethyst shrugged. "Good luck having a conversation with that rabid nacho."  
She paused, and looked out the window, when her face lit up. "Hey, shooting star!" She pointed.

Steven quickly looked up. Indeed, he saw it. A small shape, shooting over the horizon.  
"It is! Quick, make a wish!"

He closed his eyes, as did Amethyst...a moment passed.  
"...There! I wonder if it''ll come true?"

"What'd you wish for?" She asked.

Steven giggled. "If I told you, it wouldn't come true, right?"  
He fell for that once. He wished that they'd make those tiny chocolate eggs legal where he lived. ...And then Amethyst tricked him into telling her. He almost immediately laughed it off, though.

Amethyst chuckled.  
"Thought you'd say that. Was betting you'd slip up like last ti...hey, that stars' getting pretty close, huh?"

"...Huh?" The boy turned his head...and indeed, not only had the star not moved out of view...it seemed to be heading CLOSER.  
Shooting stars didn't do that...right?

It shot fast, fast, approaching at near light speed. Amethyst hopped up.  
"Hang on a second...that's no shooting star-!"

The sudden impact rocked the house, Amethyst almost immediately tumbling off the bed with a "WOAH!"  
Steven flopped off the bed himself, smacking his head onto the floor with a grunt. And just as quick as that mini earthquake came...it was silent.  
The boy got up, shaking himself off, before looking out the window next to his bed.

Amethyst got up, rubbing her head.  
"Ow, what's this floor MADE of...?" She groaned, looking over. "Steven? You good? Must've been like a meteor or something."

"No..." Steven looked at her, a look of terror on his face.  
"It's a _ship!"_

* * *

 ** _I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Did you like it? Leave a fav to show your love, a follow to stay caught up, and a review to let us know what you thought!_**

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	2. Chapter II: Future Vision

**_Welcome to chapter II of The Hunt! The first chapter got a ton of positivity in such a short amount of time! I hope you all look forward to chapter_**

 ** _II, and look forward for Chapter III tomorrow!_**

 ** _Anyhow, let's get into it!_**

* * *

The battle had brought up bitter memories.

The only sound that accompanied her was the bubbling of hot lava, but otherwise, Garnet was completely alone with her thoughts.  
Jasper's attack had resurfaced plenty of bad memories. Memories certainly not forgotten, but pushed to the back of her mind.  
She had not seen regular gems outside their little circle for over 5000 years. The impact of that had lessened over time when Steven had been born.  
More and more corrupted gems showed up instead, and over time, she had forgotten, little by little, that there used to be no corrupted gems at all.  
That they once had an army of friends...and family.

...It was odd, seeing un-corrupted gems like their previous attackers. The feeling of finding somebody they recognized, but twisted beyond belief, always cut like a dagger. Even today, it hurt. They either hid their feelings with Steven around, or it was some poor Homeworld soldier left behind.

She felt...almost jealous. Seeing the Homeworld gems. Peridot, Jasper, even Lapis Lazuli.  
Seeing that Homeworld's side of gem-kind was still thriving, even expanding with their newer technology...while the Crystal Gems, on the other hand, were left with nothing but memories. Precious memories, but...memories, all the same.

The fusion slowly looked up above her, to the silent bubbles. The gemstones. Encased in white, purple, pink or magenta bubbles.  
The gemstones entirely unchanged on the outside, retaining their shape and size...yet could not be more different on the inside.  
So many friends, lost. They had won the war. But Homeworld threw their most spiteful attack in their retreat.

They couldn't have started with it? They waited until they thought they'd won for good? After a thousand years?  
Biggs, Snowflake, Crazy Lace...so many dear friends, now just mindless beasts. And yet to Homeworld, they only lost a negligible amount of their population, and continued to thrive. Their technology more advanced, their gems stronger and smarter...it felt almost unfair.

It was Malachite's twisted image that brought these thoughts fully flooding back. And with Steven's recent brooding, it was hard to keep her chin up. Peridot was out there, Malachite was out there, and either one could sneak up at any time and strike.

...Perhaps some future vision would help mitigate the stress.

...Hm.  
Malachite escapes on an island. Malachite escapes on the beach...Malachite NEVER escapes. Malachite unfuses and Jasper escapes.  
Any of those were bad. Jasper seemed the type to cause havoc. And if they were not around, it'd spell trouble with a capital 'T.'  
Lapis seemed fine, if Steven were around. Malachite herself, however...that was a grey area. How much stronger would she be compared to Alexandrite? It took Garnet herself everything she had to keep Jasper down only temporarily, and whole of the Crystal Gems never did win their only fight with the blue gem, Lapis. And they had all been working together, Steven included...

...Moving on. Peridot. Significantly less threatening ...Alright...Peridot gets cornered and captured...Peridot manages to escape the planet and return to Homeworld...  
...Peridot forms a truce with them...?

Ha. As if. More likely, her luck would simply run out and she'd be caught. Simple as that.  
...Wait. There was something else...what was...?

 _...Oh, no._

* * *

"A ship?!" Amethyst hopped to her feet. "Oh, dude, _PLEASE_ tell me you mean like a rocket ship or something! Like some dumb humans crashed there?!"

"N-no..." Steven fully turned. "It's _gems_ , Amethyst! A gem's ship, like Peridot's pod!"  
He recognized that creepy green glow anywhere. At least...what was _left_ of the glow.

There wasn't much ship left. It didn't have a soft landing, that was for sure. Pieces of it, big or small, were covering the sand outside the house. He didn't see any signs of actual gems anywhere, but... _some_ one had to have been riding it.

"What's going on?!" A familiar voice called as Pearl ran out of the temple, the pale gem's face lined with fear, her spear tightly clutched. "Steven?!" She looked up as Garnet was close behind.

"Steven!" Her hands were encased in her gauntlets, and clenched tightly. "Is that what I...?!"

"Yeah!" He nodded, confirming what he assumed was a future vision of hers. "It just crashed outside the beach! It's all broken now, but it's green and small like Peridot's pod!"

"Peridot...?" Pearl asked. "That's impossible, we still have her pod! That must mean...Amethyst, come with us! We have to investigate this now! Steven, you keep your head down and stay in here!"

Amethyst nodded, drawing her whip from the purple gemstone in her chest as Steven's heart sunk.  
"S-stay...?! B-but I can help too! I wanna help too!" He said.  
It was happening again...they weren't trusting him.

"We don't doubt that." Garnet said. "But it's a small ship, Steven. We have it handled. If it proves to be a problem, we'll call you. Alright?"  
It was clear to him she didn't mean that. They were really stubborn with that stuff lately. He was allowed to come with them to look for Peridot,  
but that was because they didn't think she was that bad.

...It sucked. Especially thinking about what almost happened the last time they rejected his help.  
It scared him. But he couldn't keep wasting their time. He'd play along, and run out immediately if something happened.  
There was a ship outside, and they wouldn't go until he agreed.

"Okay, alright, alright." He nodded. "I'll stay, just...be careful? Please?"

Garnet nodded.  
"Always. Gems? Move out!" She ordered to Amethyst and Pearl, who ran out of the house with the fusion.  
Steven watched them go, and down to the beach.

He watched them anxiously as they poked around. Lifting up any pieces of wrecked ship to see if anything, or anyone, was hiding.  
Pearl, he noticed, jabbed her spear under the pieces she lifted. Man, he wanted to talk her out of that. After all, there wasn't a full guarantee the ship owner was dangerous to them, right...?

He had barely formed the thought when there was cry of surprise.

They had _found_ someone.

* * *

 ** _Hope you enjoyed! As always, we hope you enjoy the story, and come back next time for some new arrivals! And check out our Twitter TheTrioIsComing for future updates, and our DeviantArt Zenny-Boy! Goodbye for now, and let us know what you think!_**

 ** _And please, save questions for personal messages. Please do not ask unnecessary questions in the review section, please! But otherwise, your thoughts are fully allowed!_**


	3. Chapter III: New Arrival, Old Friend

_**Hello everyone! And welcome to Chapter III of The Hunt! This time, we'll finally be meeting the crashees of chapter I! We apologize if you expected such in chapter II, but we wanted to introduce Garnet first, and show that we are capable of accurately portraying your favourites!**_

 _ **Please give this a read, relax, and give your thoughts in the reviews sections, let us know what you think!**_

 ** _With that, please enjoy! And please leave a review, they are always appreciated!_**

* * *

They all stopped when they heard the cry of pain, Steven watching intensely as they all gathered around the source. Pearl poked it again,  
then retracted her spear quickly as a voice piped up.

"Ow! Okay, okay, I'm coming out!" The voice said. "Just stop jabbing me!"  
The rubble moved, shifting to the side to reveal a figure beneath. They matched Pearl's height, thin and with a curve to their form, but it was their black-and-white Home-world suit that immediately caught all of their attention. Molded to their form, it seemed the newcomer had taken every precaution to mess with it, with black wrappings going up their arms, and actual boots pulled on rather than the typical suit's footwear. Their skin was dark gray, with odd white splotches here and there that made Steven think of a cow at first glance. Short silver hair adorned their head, above a face that with defined features and a rounded edge. Black eyes sat over a short nose, and their mouth was set in an uncertain, almost fearful grimace. But their most distinguishable feature was the gemstone, embedded in their chest. The stone was black, with the same odd white splotches along its surface, with a bumpy, uneven shape to it, as if someone had attempted to melt looked almost afraid, and huddled a little in on themselves as the three gems watched.

"Uh, hi!" They said in the same voice, oddly deep for a gem. "Um...sorry, I didn't mean to crash here..."

The three gems looked between each other. This gem crashed onto their beach, a few feet from the front door...and now it was apologizing?

Garnet stepped forward. "That's alright," She said. "You didn't hurt anyone, so it's okay." She dismissed a gauntlet and offered her hand. "What's your name?"

They paused, scanning the three gems before them, before their eyes settled on Pearl. They could all see the newcomer blush, then turn back to Garnet quickly. "M-Mike," They said, then at the furrowing of Garnet's brow, added "I-I'm a Hematite, if that's what you mean! My mom always said I was a...Hematite."

Garnet blinked slowly behind her visor, then looked to Pearl and Amethyst, as if confirming that sentence had been real. When they both shrugged in response, Garnet offered her hand again.

"Okay...Mike," She said. "Why don't you take my hand, and we'll get you inside. I think you have quite a bit to tell us-"

"No, wait!" Mike suddenly became anxious again, looking around. "We have to find her! We went down together!"

"Her?" Pearl said. "Who's her?"

"The one I crashed with!" He replied, running and sifting through the rubble with desperation. "We broke out together! I can't just leave her!"  
He was getting desperate, throwing larger pieces of the wrecked to the side, one almost hitting Garnet if she hadn't caught it. She tossed the rubble down, walking over to him and placing a hand on him.

"Mike. You need to calm down, we can find her."  
He didn't seem to hear her, continuing to desperately pull away wrecked ship parts.  
It took a bit of effort for Garnet to pull him away, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Slow down, Mike," She said. "If she was with you in the pod, then we'll find her. But you have to tell us who she is."

His eyes shined with understanding. "Oh, right! Well...she's tall, and kinda forceful, and-"  
Rubble shifted a little ways away, and they all whirled around to see it. Steven, still watching on, was the first to see who emerged.

She was tall, a good head taller than Mike when she stood up. She had long, flowing green hair with black highlights, draping down to the middle of her back and was now frizzled and displaced. She had on a pair of rounded sunglasses on a rounded face that was smudged with dirt and set in a grimace. She had on a dark green knee-long dress with an strapped top, giving her room for a pair of large, green bird-like wings, which she stretched wide as she groaned. Her skin was a deep green, and she had a flower in her hair, with alternating green and black petals. There was the sound of several cracks as she stretched.

"Ho my STARS!" She groaned. "And I thought the cells were cramped...Hey, Mike, you alright?" She started stretching some more, and then seemed to become aware of the other gem's lack of response.

"...Mike?" She said, reaching up as her temple glowed, and she drew a large war hammer from it. She whipped around, looking wildly about.  
"Oh, I swear, if you get shattered, pal, I'll...!"

She stopped. All of the Crystal Gems were watching her now, and she looked at Mike, who waved feebly.

"Hey," He said. "Somebody found us. I _think_ they're nice..."

Garnet slowly walked up to the second gem, as Pearl took up a spot by Mike's side, a fact that seemed to make the black gem blush again. Garnet walked up to the green newcomer, revealing that they were almost the same height. They stared at each other, and for a moment, Steven feared they would come to blows. Then, the green one spoke, dismissing her weapon.

"Well, pluck my wings..." She said. "...Is that you, G?"

Garnet smiled. "I never thought I'd see you again, Olivine. Thousands of years, yet no sign of you since your disappearance."  
She put her hands on her hips. "We're glad to have you back."

Olivine started laughing. "We're? Oh, man, then..." She looked past the fusion. "Pearl! You sly fox, tryin'a hide from me!" She spread her wings and flew to Pearl, colliding into a hug and laughing. "Oh my stars, I knew you guys still had to be kickin', I knew you were alive!"

Pearl still looked taken aback, only smiling as her arms were hugged to her sides by the large gem.  
"Olivine, I...thought you were...!"

"Shattered? Nah, just been...out." She patted her as she looked at Amethyst. "Ooooh, and this must be one of our Amethysts!" She knelt down, shaking her hand. "Welcome aboard, nice to have ya..."

Amethyst just looked...confused.  
"Uhhhh...hey, uh...new chick. Glad to...meet you?"

Steven had taken this moment to run down the stairs to meet the green gem, stars in his eyes. Olivine looked at him with smile.  
"Oh, and we got the humans in on this, too!" She patted his head. "And what's your name, fella?"

Steven giggled. "My name's Steven! You kinda...crashed near my house." He gestured to the structure above them.

"Is that so..." Olivine turned. "G, I seriously can't believe we found you so soon! I thought we'd be searching for months for you!  
Oh, man, I can't wait to see everyone else..."

They paused, looking between each other. "Everyone...else?" Pearl said apprehensively.

"Oh, yeah!" Olivine said. "Red, Biggs, heck, I'd even like to see _Drago_ again! So come on, where is everyone?"  
Garnet put a hand on her shoulder. Olivine looked at her, and her smile disappeared. "...G...where is everyone else?"

The fusion wiped her eyes under her visor. "Olivine...come inside. We...have a lot to talk about." She looked at Mike, who was now stacking pieces of rubble into a tower. "And I can see that...you do, too."

* * *

Olivine looked disheartened, nearly broken. "...Everyone?" She asked softly.

The story clearly was not sitting well with her. The only thing they did not tell her about was the Cluster. That...was an entirely different can of worms.

"Whoever we could find was...already corrupted," Pearl said. "...There wasn't much we could do."

The green gem sat back, staring at nothing as she took off her glasses. Steven noted she only had one green eye; the other was a milky white.  
"...Nobody else...but us..." Olivine said softly.

The gang looked around for something to try and cheer her up, and it was Steven who eventually found it.  
"So! Uh..." He wavered a little under her gaze. "...How did you end up here?"

Olivine stared at him for a moment, and he began laughing nervously. Amethyst chimed in.  
"Yeah, actually, it'd be pretty cool to know where ya came from." She said.

"Er..." She scratched her head. "Well, I..."

"And Mike." Garnet looked over to the gem, whom was reading a book upside-down.  
"...Definitely not one of us. How'd you find this one?"

Olivine looked between them all, then smiled sadly. She put her shades back on, leaning forward. "Right, I...guess you'd want to hear that. So...my story." She whistled. "Well, it all started with the Battle for the Field, you all remember. I actually got taken hostage..."

"Taken hostage?!" Pearl said. "We thought you were shattered! How? Who?!"

Olivine's smile was teasing now. "A Quartz got the jump on me. Hit me across the gut, poofed me good. Next thing I know, I wake up in a cell on Home-world." She snickered.

"And that's where the story gets _real_ weird..."

* * *

 _ **I hope you enjoyed! And get ready for some Homeworld flashback shenanigans next time, on The Hunt!**_

 _ **...Or ARE we?**_

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 ** _We hope to see you again soon!_**


	4. Chapter IV: Mike

_**Hello once again! Been some time since the last installment, so we hope you enjoy!**_

 _ **Not much to say this time other than enjoy, review, fav if you like, follow to know when there are updates!**_

 _ **Without further ado, let's go!**_

* * *

Olivine leaned back.

"That's where things get REALLY weird..."

"Oh! Steven..." Pearl turned, looking down at the boy. "You wouldn't be interested in this. Why don't you...go out, have some fun outside?"

Steven looked up at her, surprised.  
"What?" He asked. "But...but I WANT to know! It's probably a cool story or something!"

"Steven." Garnet turned. "We'd...like some private time, to catch up with Olivine. Pearl said go out."

Mike looked between them, between Pearl, Garnet and Steven, though his eyes were clearly focused the most on Steven.

"But-!"

"Steven." Garnet repeated his name. "There are...many, many things we must discuss with Olivine. Things you should not hear. Not now."

Of course...how did he know that was the reason?  
Olivine and Mike were staying out of it. They probably figured it's none of their business.  
Amethyst was just standing there, arms crossed, looking off in another direction.

"...Alright." He sighed. "Fine, I'll probably go get a pizza or something." He turned, walking off and out the door, disheartened.  
Some new gem shows up, she wants to tell some cool story, and he doesn't get to hear it? That just...sucks.

The hybrid gem-human walked out onto the deck, and headed down the stairs.  
It was...dang, it was just too interesting! Another Crystal Gem? For one, it was nice for once that a gem they met didn't try to, you know,  
shatter anybody, but Olivine knew the gems! Back before the war! He...didn't think there were any others! Then again, the others seemed just as surprised...

And then...there was Mike. HE was really interesting.  
For one, the Earth name. Steven didn't know any Mikes, but he didn't expect the first he'd meet would be a gem!  
Not to mention...he was a boy! At least, he looked and sounded like it.

It was so bizzarre...a boy gem named Mike, and he mentioned having a Mom earlier.  
But...he wasn't like Steven, that much he could tell. Y'know, grey skin and everything...  
Did gems HAVE Moms? He didn't think so, Amethyst came from the Kindergarten and all that, so what was his-

"Wait up!" A voice called, interrupting his thoughts abruptly.  
Steven turned, in time to see Amethyst skid to a stop in the sand.  
"Amethyst? What're you doing here? Don't you want to hear Olivine's story?"

"Nah." She waved a hand. "She's cool, but everybody's gettin' all sentimental and junk, so I had to get outta there. You mentioned pizza?" She asked as they walked with each other down the beach.

"Yeah..." Steven nodded. "I mean, it's still a bit early, but I need something to keep my mind off. I mean, two new gems? That's awesome!"

Amethyst shrugged. "It's pretty cool. That Mike guy is pretty weird, though. You see his friggin' gemstone? Looks half melted!"

"Amethyst!" He gave her a look.

"What?" She asked. "You gotta admit, the dude's freaky. I mean for one, the fact he's a DUDE. I know you are, but that was like a 50/50 thing." She made a weighing motion with her hands. "And, y'know, part human? He clearly isn't, his skin's all grey and stuff. What's up with that?"

They had reached town at this point, and were approaching Stew Fish Pizza.  
"I dunno...and he mentioned having a Mom too, right?"

"RIGHT? Like, what IS he? Did some human raise him or something?"

"No, she was a gem." A voice behind them. "Really pretty and stuff, wore her hair in a bun in her later years."

Both Steven and Amethyst jumped, both also yelling as they turned around quickly.  
And there was Mike behind them, standing there.

"...Hi." He gave a meek wave. "I was following you."

Steven and Amethyst gave each other looks.  
"Uhhh...why?" Amethyst asked.

Mike looked down. Looked like he was actually pondering the answer.  
"Um...hold on, I know this..." He scratched his head. "I thiiink...either Olivine told me to go outside, or I decided to follow you two because you're tiny and cute...or both!"

"Uh...!" Amethyst looked a little...freaked out, to say the least. "How...LONG were you following us?"

"I've been walking directly behind you as soon as you turned your back to your big wooden tent." He replied, scratching his arm.  
He had a slight hunch to his posture. "Um...sorry, I'm not good at talking to people, I'm not allowed to do that, so I'm out of practice..."

"Not allowed?" Steven tilted his head. "Who doesn't let you?"

"Um...no, no, I mean I WASN'T allowed." He replied. "USED to not be allowed. I mean, I'm on Earth now, so I guess old rules don't apply..."

"You got that right." Amethyst walked up to him. "Ain't no Homeworld punks here...I mean, there IS, but that's a whole 'nother story."  
She waved it off. "Nevermind. Since you decided to follow us here, wanna try out pizza?" She playfully punched his kneecap. "You look like you need to get a meal in you, dude!"

"...Huh..." He looked down, at his slim body. Not Pearl slim, but for a male his size, his lithe body did make him look a little starved, not that gems ate.  
"...I guess it's been thousands of years since I've ate anything besides dirt and metal..."

"Ugh, that explains it." Amethyst seized his hand, and the two led him inside. "That stuff goes right through ya, tastes like crap anyways..."  
They entered the shop, and Amethyst led Mike to a table while Steven went to order.

The two sat across from each other. Mike just looked down at the table, while Amethyst seemed to scan him over.  
"...Soooo..." She said. "You're a dude."

"Huh?" He looked up.

"I mean, no offense, but..." She gestured. "The flat chest, the voice, the...way you look in general. Ain't like a gem, y'know?"

"Oh." He nodded. "I got that a lot. But way meaner."

"...Oh." She nodded, tapping her finger. "And...your gem. It looks...melted? How does that thing even work? Can you summon your weapon or anything."

"I dunno." He looked down, tapping it. "Everyone told me by all means I shouldn't be alive. And that meant two things."

"Jeesh...Homeworld really isn't big on mess-ups, are they? I mean, you can walk around and stuff, ain't that good enough."

"Um...no." Mike replied. "None of the other Hematites liked me. And I'm no good fighter."

"Hematites are fighters?" She asked, leaning back in her seat.

"Lots of things." He replied. "They're grunt gems. Used for anything, really. Some're smart enough to build, others fight, some are even in the...  
entertainment section. But...yeah, I wasn't good for any of that."

"You weren't?" Steven asked as he approached with a pizza.

This seemed to startle Mike, who jumped in his seat slightly at his sudden speaking.  
The boy stopped, looking a bit freaked out. "Oh! S-sorry...I...guess I'm not supposed to hear this, huh?"

Mike tilted his head.  
"...Why wouldn't you?" He asked.

Steven perked up. "You...don't think I can't know? You think that's alright?" He asked as he hopped into a seat next to him.

"I mean...yeah?" He replied. "The other ones kicked you out, but...what's it matter? You're a human, I guess..."  
Wow, he...definitely wasn't as strict as the others. Really kinda shy, actually...

"Oh, I'm actually not! I mean...I AM, but half human. I'm actually half gem, too!"  
The boy lifted his shirt slightly, showing his bright pink gemstone.

Mike looked down at it.  
"Huh?" He leaned in closer. "But...you're all pudgy and small! Then again, so is a Ruby...and her." He gestured to Amethyst.

"Proud of it, pal." She replied, stuffing two pieces of pizza into her mouth at once.  
"Hssh Mmph whash Roshe Kuartzhs." She said through a mouthful.

"Rose...Quartz?" Mike poked the gem, startling Steven. "She was...the one who started the rebellion, right? Her kind...was the only one I think people hated more than me." His voice sounded a little dark when he said it.

"Oh...yeah...?" Steven pulled his shirt down.

Mike nodded.  
"Yeah...but, it's not her fault." He sat up straight. Well, slightly hunched, but still. "I...actually agree with what she did. My Mom said we had to stay far away from her. And to be fair, she DID shatter some gems."

"Huh?" Steven looked dumbfounded. "She...she what?"

"Uh oh..." Amethyst muttered. "Uh...oKAY, Mikey-Boy, you mentioned having a Mom?" She said aloud, to change the subject.  
"I mean, Steven's half gem, but I'm...like 60 percent sure you ain't. What's the deal?"

Though Steven wanted the grey gem to elaborate further on that shattering business...he decided the Mom topic was much easier.  
"Yeah." He said. "I mean, my Mom and Dad liked each other a lot, like a LOT, and that's how I was born, Dad told me. But what about you? Do gems...  
make more gems?"

"...We're encouraged not to ask questions about the topic of gem-creation." He seemed to be reciting a rule.  
"I dunno if gems can do that, but...it wasn't how I was made." He put a hand on his head, brushing some of his silver hair out of his face.  
"I...actually don't remember. How I was born, at least. But...I was taken in by this beautiful gem. A Watermelon Tourmaline."

"Watermelon...Tourmaline?" Steven asked.

He nodded, and Steven and Amethyst were able to see a spark of life in the gem's eyes.  
"...She was the greatest." He said. "She was beautiful. When I first met her, she had her hair down, and wore this pink and green uniform.  
Her skin was a pretty blend of pink and green, and her hair was the same..."

Steven and Amethyst gave each other a look.

"...In her later years, though? She wore her hair in a messy bun. Wore a mint blouse, and a pink skirt down to her ankles...Earth fashion really fascinated her." He smiled. "She was...always so kind to me. The only person to treat me normally. And she...was completely okay with...what's wrong with me. She said...said they made me special. Not weird."

He seemed to break out of the trance he seemed to be in.  
"...Amethyst?" He looked at the gem. "Do...do I call you Amethyst?"

"Uh...yeah." She had stopped eating, surprisingly. "Yeah, Amethyst."

"...Where'd you come from?" He asked. "I have a Mom, Steven has a Mom...where'd you come from? Do you have a Mom? The giant Ruby in the glasses has big lips like you. Is she your Mom?"

She blushed, and Steven snickered.  
"Whh...! NO, she's not my...!" She gave a little groan.

She looked up at him.  
"No, Garnet ain't my Mom. And Pearl ain't either, naggy and uptight as she is. You wanna know where I came from?"

He nodded.  
"Yeah! Where does a regular gem come from? You're short, but that's just how it goes with gems. So...where'd you come from?"

She smirked, the purple gem setting her pizza back in the box, and closing it.  
"Pizza's to go, boys. We're goin' on a hike."

* * *

 ** _Next time folks, we head to the Kindergarten!_**


	5. Chapter V: The Cluster

**_Welcome back once again! We are very pleased you enjoyed the previous chapter, and we hope you enjoy this one as well!_**

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"Welcome...to the Kindergarten!" Amethyst said, gesturing grandly around them.

Mike stared around them at the huge walls of identical shapes around them, his eyes starry as he brought his hands to his mouth.  
"Oh...my...STARS!" He gasped. "This place looks amazing! Look at all the holes! And what're those things?!" He ran over to an Injector  
that was laid out on the ground, tattered and not functional like most of the other things in the wasteland.

"That's an Injector, dude, and it's super broken," Amethyst chuckled as Steven and she followed the gray gem around.

"What's this?" He pointed to a hole in the shape of a person, sticking his head inside.

"Gem hole, man. It's where the Injectors plant gems."

He hopped down. "Really? But...how does that big thing make those?"

Amethyst scratched her head. "Well, I don't know the science around it, but basically, the big Injectors plop a gem in the ground, and  
a while later, that gem bursts out of the ground in that spot. The Injector does it loads of times, that's why there's so many of them."

"Really?" He looked around at the huge collection of holes. "Which one's yours?"  
The gray gem seemed genuinely interested in Amethyst's origins, something that clearly gave a boost to the gem's confidence.

"That one there," She pointed to the smaller hole. "Popped out of it fully formed, just like everyone else."

"Amethyst..." Steven said as Mike traced a finger around one of the holes. "This...doesn't feel right. Maybe we should go."

"Relax, Steve-O, we're fine!" The purple gem said. "It's a little spooky, sure, but it's not like we're in danger! Anything that  
comes around here ain't no match for the two of us, right?" She elbowed his arm with a smirk.

Steven reasoned that was true, and joined Mike next to one of the fallen Injectors. The gray gem was standing  
and balancing on its cylindrical body, giggling like a schoolboy. "This is crazy!" He said. "Gems were actually made here?"

Steven nodded with a smile. "Yeah, hundreds of them. But it...wasn't exactly a good thing."

"Really?" Mike turned. "I thought making more gems was a good thing."  
It was weird how oblivious Mike was. He clearly had to be older than Steven, and yet the gem actually seemed to know...LESS than the boy.  
Even he knew how Kindergartens work...

Steven shook his head now. "It is for Homeworld, but...the process of making gems kills the life in the ground around it. That's why everything here  
is all grey and the sky's dark. If they kept making gems...the whole Earth would've died."

"...Oh," Mike said, staring at the surrounding terrain. "...I...I think I'd like to go home now, please."  
He stepped back a little as he stared at the dirt, like he didn't want to even step back on it.

Steven nodded, slapping the side of the Injector decisively. "I think you're right-!"  
But he was not. The slap shifted the Injector slightly underneath Mike's feet, just enough for the gem to lose his balance  
and fall off the side. He gave a cry as he fell, not to the ground a couple of feet away, but into the massive, cubical tunnel  
carved by Peridot's Robonoids so long ago. Amethyst gave her own cry of surprise, running to the edge.

"Dude!" She said. "What the...how did...?"

"Mike!" Steven cried, before jumping into the hole, sliding down the length of it until he stopped on the green surface at the bottom,  
which hummed with his every step. Mike was in a heap at the bottom, and he chuckled as he sat up.

"Wooo~ooo!" He cheered. "Let's do that again~!" He shook his head as he stood up, the gem's cheeriness having returned from  
the short ride.

Steven sighed in relief as Amethyst followed him down. "Okay...he's okay."

Amethyst dusted herself off, brushing the dirt off her black shirt.  
"Well, that's good," She said, looking around the place with a cautious eye. "Now, maybe we should-"

"Hey, guys!" Mike called, and they both realized he was suddenly in front of the large, hand-shaped panel. "What do you think this thing does?"

"Wait, Mike, don't touch-!" Steven said, but he was too late as the gray gem put his hand on the console.  
With a hum and a blink, screens opened up all across the shining green surface, one screen showing a red notification.

"...Touch that," Steven finished.

"Oh, no, did he turn on a death laser or something?" Amethyst groaned.

"No, but...last time, Garnet and I..." Steven said, looking around. "We found...things down here." He hurried to Mike's side.  
"Say, Mike, maybe we should go..."

"Aw, what?" He said. 'But check out all this cool stuff! Like, hey, what's that?" He pointed to one of the screens, and it opened  
into a series of folders, each containing their own files. Like a kid in a candy shop, Mike began flipping through them haphazardly,  
laughing as he moved them with his hand.

"Mike, stop!" Steven grabbed his arm. "We really need to leave!"

Mike frowned. "Aw...alright, okay..." He was about to take his hand off, when Amethyst suddenly grabbed the same hand.

"Wait..." She said. "Mike...open that folder."  
Steven looked at her with shock and confusion, then eyed the open folder. It was entitled "PROJECT: CLUSTER" with the  
Diamond insignia printed on the front. Steven remembered Peridot mentioning something called a "Cluster" before...maybe this could give some insight.

"...Mike," He said, "open that folder, please."

"But you just said-"

"Sorry, Mikey," Amethyst interrupted him, "but we changed our minds. Let's take a look at this one."

He tilted his head, but shrugged. "Okie-doke," He replied, before opening the folder. A prompt appeared:

THIS PROJECT FOLDER IS RESTRICTED TO Q-CLASS INDIVIDUALS. PLEASE OFFER PASSCODE.

The three gems looked between each other with confusion, before Mike suddenly snapped his fingers.  
"Ooo, I think I know this one!" He said, then cleared his throat and shouted "4D5X, 6LD!"

With a bloop, the screen said:  
ACCESS GRANTED. WELCOME, ELBAITE.

Before dispersing and opening the folder. Steven and Amethyst looked at Mike, who shrugged again.  
"I thought it needed those weird numbers and letters. I used to hear those numbers a lot when...when..." His expression suddenly  
darkened, and he became stone-serious. "...Let's take a look at these files." His voice went dark...mature, even.

Steven and Amethyst looked to each other, then shrugged as Mike opened the first report, the corner of the page  
stating that it was written by "Morganite 3X2A-9FR:"

"The Cluster Project is underway," Steven started reading out loud. "I have been assigned to manage the project during  
its construction, and although I am far from the type to enjoy menial management positions, I am being paid well to do this...gems can get paid?"  
He glanced at Amethyst, who shrugged.

"Might've had some fancy kind of payment or whatever," She replied. "Heck if I know. Mike, skip this one."  
The next few reports provided nothing save for the constantly repeated phrase of "normal work day today." According to  
what they did read, this Morganite was more at home running wild, but whatever she was being paid was apparently  
enough to keep her in her place. Eventually, they came upon a report that was nearly twice as long as any of the others, and Steven had Mike open it.

"Curse it all to space!" Steven read excitedly. "These lugs they bring to me are..." He blushed, skipping over some harsh language.  
"...they don't work as expected, and then wonder why I have them removed. Now we've got a mutant on the field, and the Diamonds  
have instructed me to keep it. It looks like it's easy to dispose of, at least, given its small size, but it's made...from..."

He stared at the words for a moment, slowly looking at Amethyst as he tried to force the words out. "...a...Hematite..."

They both looked at Mike, though he didn't look very phased by the weight of these words.  
When he noticed Steven wasn't reading, he looked at the two of them with a confused look. "...What?"

Before either of them could reply, one of the icons on the screens lit up red, stating an emergency. Mike turned to that screen and  
opened it, and Amethyst and Steven gave each other a look, as if affirming they would talk about this later.

The new screen was a security system, and it read that there was a massive security breach...from the ground, directly beneath their position.  
Steven had enough time to spin around before shapes suddenly clambered onto the platform behind them, cutting them off from the elevator.  
Gem mutants, their misshapen bodies giving horrible screeches and groans as they shuffled towards the gems. Steven gave a cry of surprise,  
summoning his shield as Amethyst drew her whip, snapping it at the closest mutant to keep them at bay. Mike yelped, taking his hand off  
the console and shutting the computer as he took a spot behind the armed Steven and Amethyst. Steven looked around at their numbers.

The mutants outnumbered them two to one, and each one on its own was big enough to be a serious problem. If only Connie were here...

While Connie was not there, it seemed something else was. Through the light from up above, the gems caught a flash of a huge shape on the bridge,  
before one of the mutants suddenly gave a yelp as it was yanked over the side, disappearing into the darkness. The other mutants stopped  
their advance, turning to the noise, and the two Crystal Gems needed no more invitation. They charged the remaining mutants, Amethyst  
cutting through the distracted monsters as Steven tried to provide defense for Mike, occasionally tossing his shield.

With the tide shifted in such a way, the mutants were no match for the two gem warriors, and soon, Steven had five bubbles around him,  
sighing sadly as he looked between them. Amethyst put an arm around him, patting him.  
"You alright, dude?" She asked. Steven shrugged.

"I mean...we won," He looked at the bubbles, "but...these gems..."  
He had already seen this stuff before, with Garnet. He knew what those monstrous gems are...WHO they were.

Amethyst nodded in a knowing manner. "I get it, dude. Really. But this is the best we can do for them. Let's just get them to the  
Temple and we'll work it out from there."

Steven nodded, before a thought occurred to him, looking around at the bubbles. Then, he turned.  
"Hey, Mike!" He said. "Could you give Amethyst and me a moment? We just need to talk about something."

Mike gave a thumbs up, and walked over to the elevator, sitting crisscrossed and humming to himself.  
He gathered the pink bubbles around himself, looking at them with interest.

Steven huddled in.  
"Amethyst..." Steven said. "The...the gem mutants. Do their gems look...odd, to you?"

"Uh, yeah, dude," She replied. "They're all m..." She was halfway through the word when she paled, looking at him. He nodded, and finished for her.

"...Melted. Amethyst...if Mike...if the others..."

She held up a hand. "I'll bring it up with Garnet and Pearl," She said, "but don't worry about it. He hasn't acted up yet. But I'll make  
sure we keep an eye on him."

Steven nodded, and walked over, and warped the bubbles away. Mike looked disappointed at their sudden disappearance.

Amethyst put an arm around him.  
"Now, what I wanna know is, what was that thing from earlier?" She said in a half-joking tone. "Swiped that mutant away? Did you see how big that thing was? It could've swallowed me whole!"

Steven laughed nervously, none of them taking notice of the huge shape that slithered back underneath the platform, serpent-like eyes staring  
from the darkness as it clutched at the sixth mutant gemstone. A dull growl emanated from its body, and then it disappeared into a  
huge hole dug out underneath the platform. It had better things to do today. It couldn't afford to be distracted today.

 _It was too hungry._

* * *

 ** _We hope you enjoyed, and hope to see you again soon!_**


	6. Chapter VI: 5XG

_**Greetings, and here is the next chapter only nearly 24 hours later! We hope you enjoy, as a fan favourite arrives in this chapter!**_

 _ **We sincerely hope you enjoy, and remember to leave a review, follow and fav, they are always appreciated!**_

* * *

"And that about sums it up," Olivine said. The green gem had just got done telling the story of how she'd gotten to Earth with Mike.

She seemed calm, while the others seemed pretty surprised.

"Oh my stars..." Pearl said. "And the monster?"

"Never saw it again," The green gem replied. "Most likely got captured back on Home-world. Never seen anything like that creature before..."

Pearl stepped forward.  
"Olivine, I swear, if we had known you were alive, we would have...!" She started. Olivine held up a hand.

"Relax, Pearl, relax!" She smiled. "I know you would've. Not like you could've found me easy. Five hundred years of running makes you good at hiding from everyone."  
The door opened, and Amethyst entered, standing in the doorway for a moment as the gems all looked to her. Garnet nodded.  
"Amethyst. Good job out there. I knew you could handle it."

"Wait," Pearl said, "handle wha-"

The purple gem gave thumbs up. "Yeah, cool, awesome, thanks. Listen, there is something we need to talk about, like, now," She said. "We found stuff in the Kindergarten, and it is cah-ray-zay."

* * *

Steven sat with his hands under his chin at the bottom of the stairs, kicking his feet back and forth. Mike was sitting crisscross in front of him, smiling.

"Well, that was fun!" He said. "I don't really think we should go back, but...wow, that was fun! We fought monsters, found secrets! What's next, mysterious voices that try to manipulate us?"

He had no idea that was what Steven was thinking about at this very moment. That room...Peridot had opened that room. She had to know about all the stuff down there, all the monsters being stored there, all the experiments that went on, whatever this Cluster was...she had to be a part of it, somehow. Not to mention what she had already done; threw them in prison, ready to send them to Home-world, tried to kill them in the old gem warship...she put so much effort into causing them harm. And then there was the voice. The nightmares he'd been having for a while now. Whispers, a voice telling him that someone named 5XG was going to betray them...that had to be Peridot. The hand that grabbed him in every nightmare had fingers separated from the hand, and the voice always said this 5XG wasn't like other Peridots...who else could they be describing? Which, of course, led to the ultimate question...

Was Peridot worth turning over to their side? He normally would have answered without question; any gem was worth it, and he wanted to make any friends he could. But...he wasn't so sure now. If she was only going to betray them when they turned their backs...

He was suddenly snapped to attention by another voice.  
"Steven!" It was Connie, the dark-skinned girl dressed in a blue shirt and cargo shorts with tennis shoes on. She was rushing across the beach, but slowed down when Mike stood up, eyeing her warily. "Uh...Steven," She said. "Who's this?"

"Oh, Connie!" The boy perked up. "This is Mike!" Steven took the gem's hand. "It's alright, Mike, Connie's my friend! Connie, this is Mike! He's a gem who came from space yesterday!"

"Whoa, really?" She said, looking Mike up and down. "That's awesome! And he's friendly?"  
"I am, other human!" Mike said, patting Connie on the head. "You humans are just too cute! I couldn't bare to hurt any of you!"  
Connie snickered, fixing her hair as Steven tried to explain not to pet humans.

"So, what're you guys doing right now?" Connie asked.

"Not much," Steven said. "Amethyst's just talking with the others, and we're just hanging out!"  
His mood had brightened signifigantly at the sight of his friend. Anything that could get it mind off the Kindergarten stuff was great!

"Weeeell...I just happen to have tickets to Fun-Land!" She pulled out the paper coupons. "Who wants to go have some fun?"

"Ooo, me!" Steven and Mike said at the same time. But before they could leave, Pearl suddenly stepped out.  
"Steven!" She said. "Steven, wait!"

"Aw, Pearl!" Steven said. "We'll be careful, I promise!"

Pearl came down the stairs, shaking her head. "Not what I meant, Steven. I just think it best if Mike remains here for the time being."

"What!" Mike pouted, despite his blushing at the pale gem's approach. "That's...that's not fair..."

"I'm sorry, Mike, but the rest of us just want to ask a few more questions. We just want to make sure we get a thorough examination of you. Is that alright?"

Mike blushed a little brighter, then looked down, folding his arms. "...Fine..."

"Wonderful," She said, taking his hand. This turned his face deep black, which Pearl remained oblivious to. "You two should be home by dark, okay? I don't want to have to come looking for you!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Connie said, and Steven nodded, then whistled. Lion emerged from around the front of the Temple, yawning as he crouched to let the two kids on. Then, with a great bound, they were off. Pearl tugged Mike's hand, getting him to look at her.

"Now, this shouldn't hurt," She said, "we just need to make sure we...know enough about you."  
Mike nodded, and let himself be led indoors.

* * *

It was just past sunset when Steven returned, Lion stretching out on the porch as he climbed the stairs to his room. On his bed was a note from Pearl:  
 _TOOK MIKE TO GARNET'S ROOM. WILL COME OUT LATER. -Pearl._  
He shrugged, setting the letter aside and changing into his pajamas and crawling into bed. He was so tired, he didn't think his head would hit the pillow before he fell asleep, and it was with a foggy mind that he said goodnight to his stuffed animals.

"Goodnight MC Bear-Bear..." He said sleepily. "Goodnight Flumpy the Elephant...Goodnight, Ominous Triangle at the foot of my bed..." He sighed, and sank into his cushions. His mind realized what he had just said a second too late, and his eyes shot open just as a hand fell over his mouth,  
dragging him from his bed and onto the Warp Pad. He was having horrible flashbacks to his nightmares, before finally managed to free himself. He fell off the Pad as they landed at the Galaxy Warp, and spun around to his attacker before he was suddenly engulfed in a green field.

"You rotten clod, breaking my facilities, going through my files, smashing my communications...!" The unmistakable voice and face of Peridot said. She walked him over to the large Home-world pad, dropping him on the splintered surface and putting her hands on her hips.

"Peridot!" He said, summoning a shield. "What're you doing here?!"

The green gem looked livid, and had trouble keeping her balance, as she was still missing one of her feet from their last meeting.  
"Wh-What am I doing here?!" She snarled. "What do you think I'm doing here?! I'm getting off this cruddy planet!"

"Wait...what?" Steven said.

"I want to go home, you clod!" She said, gesturing around as her composure slipped. "I've got no more Robonoids, I've got no foot, I've got no response from Yellow Diamond!...But you." She seemed to steady herself. "You fixed Lazuli's gem. I don't know how, but healing technology like that can undoubtedly fix a Warp Pad, too. So you're gonna fix this Warp Pad, and I'm gonna go home! Or else!" She made a blaster with one hand.

"Okay, okay!" Steven said hurriedly, before he licked his hand and slapped the Warp Pad.  
...Nothing happened.

"Wh...What was that?!" Peridot said. "You didn't do anything!"  
The gem was definitely more unhinged from before. She had short angry outbursts before, but she usually seemed calm, kind of like a secretary or something...but now she looked like she was on constant outburst mode.

"Uh...it doesn't always work..." Steven said nervously.

Peridot paused, then snickered, then started laughing as she fell into a sitting position. "...I'm gonna die here. This planet is gonna be the death of me."  
Steven watched her, and almost moved his hand out to her. Then, words echoed in his mind.

She'll shatter you the moment she can... The same whisper hissed in his ear. She's just like any other gem, and no amount of companionship can change that...  
He retracted the idea, clearing his throat instead.  
"So...what makes you think that?" He said almost awkwardly. "This planet's still got ton of life on it."

"Oh, that doesn't matter!" Peridot said. "None of what this planet has matters now that the Cluster's on the countdown!"  
Steven perked up. "The Cluster? I...I saw that written, on a file in the Kindergarten! You've said that before, what's the-"

A sonic boom. Steven turned around, as something shot like a blur and slammed into the ground on the Warp Pad. A huge cloud of dust kicked up,  
and Steven and Peridot started coughing, the Warp Pad activating and clearing the dust.  
"Oh, honey," Olivine said, as Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl all stepped off with their weapons drawn. "You just took Baby Bear. And the Mama bears don't like that one bit."

Peridot yelped as she got to her feet, making her blaster once more. "Get back, you clods! I may die on this planet, but I'm not gonna die by your grubby hands!"

"Stuff it, P-dork!" Amethyst said, snapping her whip. "It's the end of the line!"

"We're taking you in, Peridot," Garnet said sternly. "Come quietly, and we won't hurt you."

"You clods think that matters?!" Peridot said, a green blast charging on her arm. "It means nothing! I'm the only one who knows about-!"  
She had taken aim at Garnet, which left her open as Pearl lunged at the green gem. But then, suddenly, a shield appeared between them, Pearl slamming into the barrier as Peridot's shot ricocheted off of it, blowing up one of the platform's spires. They both stepped back, then turned to Steven, who looked surprisingly angry.

"Don't hurt her," He said. "She knows things we need to know! Something that's gonna harm the Earth! She can't tell us if she's in a bubble."  
All of the gems looked at him in confusion. Garnet dismissed her gauntlets and knelt by him, wiping the quickly-forming tears from his eyes.

"Steven...what's wrong? What are you not telling us?"

 _ **She'll bury you when she gets the chance, the voice whispered once more. Sparing her will doom you all.**_ No...no, he couldn't listen. The voice was wrong, it had to be... "...She told me she knows stuff," He said. "Like what we found in the Kindergarten. She kept mentioning something called the Cluster. I think it's important."

"Steven..." Garnet squeezed his shoulder. "Are you sure you want to just keep her like this? She's dangerous, you know that."

 _ **"You'll die if you take her in. Don't do it. She'll never spare you-"**_

"Yeah," He said. "We can keep her around somehow. And...who knows?" He glanced past Garnet at the still-stunned Peridot.  
"...Maybe we can be friends."

* * *

 _ **We hope you enjoyed, and hope to see you back here soon! We had a small error uploading this, so thank you for your patience.**_


	7. Chapter VII: The Hunters

_**Hello again, and here we are with chapter seven! This time we learn some new things, and Steven and the gang chat with a new friend!**_

 _ **Remember to favourite if you like, leave a review to let us know what you think, and follow to stay updated on this story! We hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

Days. Months. Maybe even a year, it didn't matter. Time passed like a crawl here. Maybe it had only been hours...?  
It felt like decades. Decades since she'd seen him. Since she'd seen ANYONE from the outside world.  
Trapped in a mirror. Freed from the mirror, before Homeworld took her prisoner. Even then, she had come so close, so unbelievably close to escaping that...  
and Jasper just had to get up, just had to offer fusion. And she took it. Like an idiot, she took it.

Steven was safe. He was safe because they were both trapped. But she could have just refused. Just said no. Spit in Jasper's face, and let the other smash her into mush. But she just had to be a hero...now here she was. Constant pain. Constant torture. Not a moment she could rest, because Jasper would take control and Malachite would rampage. She would take control of them and unleash havoc on everything. Lapis could feel the gem's thoughts.  
They had had a deal, the two of them. She ratted out the Crystal Gems, they blow them up, end of story. Jasper didn't even care. Not one bit.

But he had to be there. And she saw Steven's gem...and everything changed. Like a switch went off. Lapis had seen the look in Jasper's eyes change. A moment earlier, she wanted nothing to do with the mission. But then she saw Rose's shield...then she had a need. Suddenly the mission mattered. She had to bring Steven to Yellow Diamond. Now, when they shared a mind, Lapis could tell it had devolved even past that. Now, shattering the boy was the only thing Jasper was thinking about. That small Amethyst, no. The weird Pearl, no. Even that freaky fused gem, she never thought about. Just Steven. Just Steven...and how excited she was to use her new power.

Their new power. They were one now, there was no denying that. On the inside, they fought brutally. All mental, but no less taxing than a real battle. On the outside...just a horrifying amalgamation of them both. Jasper's face twisted into hers, Jasper's wild hair, her own wings, Jasper's body markings, Lapis' own gemstone on the back...all rolled up into something that tortured them both.  
And the worst part...Lapis almost enjoyed it. Yes, Jasper was relentless, with all the insults, the jabs, the threats, everything she could possibly muster was thrown at the blue gem.  
...But Lapis got to do the exact same to her. Every single thing she'd felt since being trapped in that damn mirror, the isolation, the imprisonment, being cracked...  
she finally had a punching bag to take everything out on.

Seeing Jasper squirm, seeing her sharing her pain...it was incredible. And disgusting. She hated herself for it, hated how she enjoyed it, but...she deserved some release. Even if it was bad for her, even if she had to go through all this...it was worth it. Having someone like Jasper.  
"...You'll never escape." Lapis finally spoke. "You'll be here forever. Both of us will. You'll never lay a hand on him again. You know that, right?" Her voice was strained as she yanked the restraints around her hands.

She heard a groan...which slowly turned into a dark chuckle.  
"You...keep lying to yourself. You know that, right...?" Jasper laughed. "We both know how much you hate those rebellious scum, wasting away on that beach...  
and sooner or later, I'll get you to slip up. And when you do...I'll shatter her. I'll shatter Rose, and I'll make sure you're watching."

Lapis tensed up.  
"...Maybe. But you'll have to get through me, first. It's like I said...I'm never letting you go. I'm keeping you...forever."

Jasper chuckled again.  
"...I knew you would, Lapis. I should really thank you. I...we, may be chained up, but I still feel the power. I feel it, coursing through us. And I know you feel it. I should thank you, for giving me a taste of such strength...I just can't wait to unleash it on this disgusting dirt ball. And it's ALL thanks to you, Lapis...why don't you just let go now, and get it over with? Let me take over, and let us both lay waste to this miserable planet?"

Lapis smirked.  
"...Because I'm not done with you yet."

The Temple door opened, and Mike emerged from within, looking positively nauseous as he leaned on the doorway. Pearl followed him, with Garnet and Amethyst following her.

"We're sorry about the little poking and prodding," Pearl said, "but we had to be sure you weren't some sort of shape-shifter or something!" She laughed. "You understand, that would have been bad for us."  
"That's okay..." Mike groaned, blushing again as he looked away from Pearl's smile. "But why did you have to leave me in th-"  
He froze mid-sentence as he had stumbled to the couch. Someone was already sitting in it.

Peridot sat on the left side of the couch, looking for all the world like a trapped cat, her arms cuffed to the wall by rusty-looking chains that sat bolted into the wall.  
Steven was sitting next to her, smiling at her while she shot him a glare, and fiddled again with the chains. Olivine was sitting across from her at the kitchen counter, leaning back and drinking a soda with her wings spread out behind her lazily.

"Pretty neat, right?" She said. "We fished those chains out of Amethyst's room and got G to bolt them. Nearly brought the house down, ya big beast!" She laughed as she gestured with the soda at the fusion.

"They were necessary to keep Peridot restrained," Garnet said stoically, the first hints of a smile twitching at her lips. "We needed to keep her restrained for questioning, so it was the logical next step."

"Ah, don't lie, G, it was fun!" Olivine said with a chuckle, looking at Mike. "Well, anyways...kid, meet Peridot. She, uh...well, I don't know. They just said I needed to watch her."

"Peridot," Pearl said in a snobby tone, "is a Home-world gem with whom we've had a little quarrel. She has attempted to reactivate Home-world operations here on Earth, and we have attempted to stop her."

"By smashing all my things!" Peridot snapped, now attempting to shoot a laser from one finger to burn the chains off. This rewarded her with a solid tap on the head from the butt of Pearl's spear, and she grumbled as she tugged more on the chains.

"You got spunk, I'll give you that," Olivine said, then turned to Pearl. "If she's someone we're 'quarreling' with, P, why don't we just have her bubbled? I like stickin' it to Home-world as much as the next gem, but sitting in this chair hurts my wings."

"Because..." Pearl looked apprehensive. "...Steven believes she may be able to tell us something."

"Like I'd ever tell you anything!" Peridot barked. "I am not a traitor to Home-world, and I never will be!"  
"Look, P-dorito!" Amethyst said, sitting next to the green gem. "Who do you think is coming for you? If you're gonna keep screaming like that, we better be prepared in case someone in space can hear you." She snickered at her own joke.  
"I mean...yeah," Steven said. "No offense, Peridot, but...you came with Jasper and Lapis. Does anyone...know you're here?"

"Oh, plenty of gems would know, and any number of them could be coming to rescue me!" Peridot said matter-of-factly. "Not that you clods would understand, but Peridots provide such important technological advancement and luxury to the lives of other gems, that the Diamonds themselves will send someone to retrieve me! I once provided an entire BATALLION of gems access to their ships that were required for a deployment to colonize a planet!"

"That sounds like a fancy way of saying you fixed a door," Amethyst said.

"QUIET, you clod!" Peridot snapped. "I would NEVER be so humiliated as to just 'fix a door!' Heck, between my importance, and these two escaped clods," She gestured to Mike and Olivine, "I wouldn't be surprised if they sent the Hunters after us!"

Olivine's head shot up. She got to her feet, clearing the distance between them in two steps, before grabbing Peridot's collar and slamming her into the wall. Peridot gave a choking noise, and all the other gems jumped back.  
"Olivine!" Garnet said. "What are you-?!"

"The Hunters?" Olivine whispered. "You think they'd come after you?"  
Peridot gagged. "I'd...bet on it! Especially...going after...you!" She smiled. "You were...on wanted...posters...everywhere...for some time! They...love a good...catch!"

Olivine dropped the gem back onto the couch, then began pacing, mumbling to herself and shaking her head.  
"No, that's impossible..." She said softly. "That jail we broke out of...it couldn't have been...but that's why it wasn't green..."

"Olivine?" Pearl said. "Would you care to fill us in on what's just happened?"

Olivine looked up. "Oh!...Right, sorry. Um...Steven, right? Maybe you should-"

"I'm not leaving," He said, getting up from the couch.  
"Steven..." Pearl tried. "This really isn't something you should hear..."  
"No!" Steven said. "If there are going to be more bad gems coming for you guys, I want to know who they are! I wanna help protect you guys!"  
Pearl groaned. "...Garnet?"

The fusion looked at Steven. None of them could see the future visions flying through her head, before she finally came to a decision.  
"You can stay," She said, "but no interrupting. Alright?"  
Steven's eyes turned to stars as he smiled, nodding happily.  
"Garnet..." Pearl pinched her brow. "He shouldn't hear this, it's more serious than even the last time...!"  
"And if Steven hadn't intervened," Garnet said coolly, "we would have all been shattered. He cannot remain in the dark forever, Pearl. We need him."

Pearl looked at her, then Steven, then at Olivine, then to Peridot, and finally up to the picture hanging over the door. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily.  
"Fine," She said. "He can listen."

"Story!" Steven said, taking up a seat next to Peridot again.

The green Home-world gem scoffed, folding her arms.  
"Oh, yes, clod, do please talk about the Hunters. I'll fact check."

Olivine shot her a look, then cleared her throat.

"The Hunters are a trio of gems I learned about from one of my trips spent hiding on Home-world." She held up a hand to stop Steven's impending question. "I did as much research as I could, and from what I can gather, nobody knows what kinds of gems they are, save each other. They refer to each other with codenames, and any gem who tries to figure out their codenames disappears in days." He looked over as Peridot nodded smugly, then continued.  
"They get hired, of course, but nobody approaches them directly unless they have orders from the Diamonds themselves. If some other gem needs them to do something, they leave their requests on posters out on public wanted boards and hope one of them sees it. I have no idea what they get paid with, but they get paid well. As for targets..." She whistled. "I once had a drink in one of the bars, and one of them just waltzed in and snatched an Agate up. Nobody even tried to help."

"The Hunters are ruthless and efficient," Peridot almost cooed with pride. "You clods don't stand a chance."

"Oh, quiet, P-dork!" Amethyst said, then immediately turned to Olivine. "We have a chance against them, right?"  
Olivine shrugged. "If we had enough time to prepare, we might be able to get an upper hand on them. But they aren't legendary for no reasons. I read up on some of their deeds. Criminal organizations, rebellions...these gems have torn down everything. If you want to traverse the streets of Home-world, there are three shapes you have to look for, and they do not like being disrespected."

"So they're tough," Pearl said. "So, who are they?"  
"Well, as far as codenames, I think I've figured out what they each go by," Olivine said, listing off on her fingers.  
"There's the Brute, the muscle of the group and the biggest bloody gem I've ever seen in my life. About twice as tall as us, G, and four times as big, the Brute is a walking building. She's not subtle in the slightest; she just punches her way through everything, and so long as you don't have a destabilizer, she's big enough to get away with it. I once heard a rumor that she went to a strength contest, bench-pressed a Red Eye, and then took the trophy and left. We'll need to be fast to get around her, or else she'll tie us up with each other.

"Next up is the one they usually send for dirty work," Olivine continued. "They call her the Animal. From what I've seen, she's vicious, fearless, and sadistic. I saw her take a good knife to the chest and enjoy it."

Pearl cleared her throat angrily and thrust a thumb at Steven.  
"...Right. Sorry, Steven," She said. "But the Animal is usually sent for targets that don't need the Brute's level of strength. She's also the one with the greatest amount of rumors surrounding her; namely, that she can shapeshift both her form and color, and that she has a good hand on telepathy, so long as she has some way to see her victim."

Steven zoned out for a moment as he heard that. Telepathy...was she...?  
"Steven" Amethyst snapped her fingers. "You good, Steve-O?"  
He started, shaking his head. "Oh, yeah...sorry."

Olivine nodded, then continued once more. "Anyway, the Animal is practically rabid. We'll need to keep her at a range if we can."  
"And you can't forget the boss," Olivine grumbled. "The Cowgirl, they call her. Not as physically imposing as the Brute, or even the Animal, but she had mental cunning to make up for it. She's cold, she's calculating, and she's one of the only gems to wield a ranged weapon, a six-shooter from which she gets her Cowgirl title. She's the brains of the operation, and she's very good at doing it, too. Guys...I'm not gonna lie, if the Hunters come after us, we're in deep," Olivine said. "I'm not sure if we could handle all three of them with our numbers."

"Well, you said they only go on order of the Diamonds, right?" Amethyst said. "We should be good! The Diamond couldn't care less about us!"

"Maybe you clods!" Peridot said. "But they'll certainly send such prestigious saviors after yours truly!"  
They all stared at her for a moment, before turning back to their own huddle.

"Maybe they wouldn't send any after her," Olivine said, "but Mike and I were imprisoned in the Hunters' private prison, where they keep the catches they can't move yet."

"You mean..." Pearl started.

"Yeah," Olivine finished. "We escaped from their prison. And they won't like a marker like that on their chart. They'll want the two of us back, even if they have to force us. Especially if they have to force us."  
"Well, we're not gonna let that happen!" Steven said, jumping up on the counter and pumping a fist. "We're gonna stop them, just like we stopped Homeworld before! Right?"  
They all looked apprehensive. Steven lowered his fist slowly. "...Guys? C'mon, we can beat them!"

"Everybody wants to, Steven," Pearl said, "but these gems are dangerous. If they come after us...when they come after us..."

"This will be far more difficult than Jasper, Steven," Garnet said. "We all need to be ready for this. You need to keep up your training with Pearl if you want to help us."

He nodded. "You got it, Garnet! I won't-" He stopped as Peridot started laughing.  
"Oh, you clods!" She laughed, trying unsuccessfully to wipe tears from her face. "You honestly think you can beat the Hunters?! Ha!" She giggled some more. "Oh, my only regret is that they'll destroy you all before the Cluster makes this mud ball explode!"

Steven hopped down from the counter. "...You mentioned the Cluster before," He said. "What's the Cluster?"  
Peridot snorted. "What's the Cluster? Only the single most innovative geo-weapon devised by the Diamonds themselves!"

Garnet walked over, kneeling down. "Really? Well...why don't you tell us a little bit about the Cluster, hm?"  
Peridot rolled her eyes and smirked. "Not like you clods can do anything about it now...fine, I'll humor you..."

They all stared at her as she finished, the green gem leaning back with a satisfied smile on her face. Garnet took off her sunglasses.  
"...All of those gems..." She said. "Just...stuck together, in the Earth's core?"

"Not even gems!" Peridot said. "Traitors and rejects, not good enough to be called gems-!"  
Olivine suddenly grabbed her by the collar again, this time hefting her up high.  
"Say that again," She spat. "Say they weren't gems again, I swear, you little chip, I'll crack you in half...!"

"Olivine!" Steven grabbed her dress as Garnet forced the gem's hands down. "Olivine, it's okay, she...she doesn't know what she's talking about."  
Olivine wiped her eyes. "She has no right...no right!" She turned to go back for the Homeworld gem again, this time stopped by Pearl.  
"It's alright, Olivine," She said. "You're right, she shouldn't be saying those things, but we can't have you attacking her now. We have need of her."

Both gems looked at her. "What?" They said at the same time.  
"We need her," Pearl said again. "She's knows more about this Cluster than any of us, and Steven said there are files in the Kindergarten talking about it. We need her for that information."  
"Don't," Olivine said. "Don't say what I think you're about to say."

Pearl nodded. "She's going to help us."

* * *

 ** _We hope you enjoyed, and hope to see you back again here with chapter eight!_**


	8. Chapter VIII: The Kindergarten

_**Hello! It's been a long time, hasn't it?**_

 _ **Well, I'm sorry this has taken so long, but I suppose those are the dangers of being a writer, yes? But, at long last, after a hiatus that would make the real TV show proud, we are happy to finally deliver chapter 8 of this ongoing series, and we certainly hope it was worth the wait!**_

 _ **Without any further ado, let's begin!**_

* * *

"I swear to every star in space," Peridot snarled, trying to wriggle while tied up in Amethyst's whips, "if you push me one more time, I am going to-!"  
"What?" Amethyst said, patting Peridot's back. "You're gonna shoot us with the lasers you can't use anymore? Or hit us with the lightning sticks you don't have anymore?"  
"How dare you?!" Peridot said. "Destabilizers are the absolute pinnacle of gem security! They are not just 'lightning sticks,' you oaf, they provide us with the utmost advantage when dealing with rebels of any si-"

"Bored!" Olivine said, slapping Peridot on the rear and nearly hiking her into the air. "We almost there, kid?"

"Oh, yeah!" Steven said, looking around at the gray walls of the Kindergarten...that looked exactly as the past few times he had checked. "We...should be getting close."  
Olivine nodded absentmindedly, too busy looking at the thousands of dark holes with disgust to notice that he had no conviction behind his voice.  
And how could he? It wasn't like this place had very discernible features. They would find it, he was sure; it was a huge hole in the ground, impossible to miss unless you were blind.

With this certainty in mind, he allowed his mind to wander to everything that had happened. He hadn't had a quiet moment in a little while to process what had happened since he had gone to bed, and now the more he thought about it, the crazier it sounded. Peridot kidnapping him, getting captured, and then revealing the existence of something called the Cluster...telling them that these gems called the Hunters were coming for them, whoever they were...and now Pearl was the one who had decided the green gem was going to help.  
Steven pondered over that. Pearl had decided...with convincing from yours truly, of course, but she had decided anyway. He wondered if the other gems would be open to some kind of...friendship. He could see it now, and it made him smile; Peridot living with them,  
maybe sleeping on the couch when she needed to, and all of them laughing when Amethyst told some joke...he could see them as friends.

He could do that. They could be friends!  
He would just have to...get the other gems to believe she wasn't dangerous.  
And then...hopefully convince them that she was totally friend-worthy.  
And...that was if Peridot even wanted to be a friend in the first place. Of everyone, she seemed to be the one that would be hardest to convince...  
Well, aside from Olivine. He glanced at the tall green gem. She was muttering something under her breath that he couldn't hear, and she fixed her sunglasses from time to time. She seemed to be on complete alert ever since Mike and she had shown up, especially now that these Hunters were apparently coming. He tried to think of what would scare her so much...of course, Homeworld gems had shown up and the Crystal Gems hadn't even thought of running. But with these Hunters...everyone was acting like fighting wasn't an option.

That unsettled him more than anything...even Garnet seemed afraid.

But...how bad could they be, after Jasper?

"We're here," Peridot grumbled, right as Pearl gave a yelp from the head of the group. She had stopped just short of falling right into the perfectly square hole that marked the entrance to Peridot's secret little lab...thing. Now that he thought about it, Steven never actually found out what it was called. An incubator? A lab? Who knew. He certainly didn't.

"Steven," Garnet's voice snapped him back to reality. "Are you okay?"  
"Oh, uh, yeah!" He said, chuckling nervously. "Yeah, sorry, just...thinking."  
Garnet nodded. "Well, Pearl asked you a question."  
"Indeed," Pearl said, glancing at Amethyst as well. "Are you sure this place is safe?"

"Has to be!" Amethyst waved a hand. "We beat the crud out of so many of those things, there's gotta be nothing left!"  
"Well..." Mike, who had been silent for a little while, piped up, "other than that one thing."  
"I'm sorry..." Peridot said nervously, "Other thing? What did you clods do to my lab?!"

"Nothing, ya dork, relax," Amethyst said, slapping the green gem on the back again. "We beat up some mutants down there, and we lost track of one."  
"We think something else down there took it," Mike added, not making eye contact as he turned to the hole. "But we didn't see anything..."  
"Oh, wonderful..." Peridot groaned. "Well, we will have to proceed with caution, then. I propose going down one at a time, so as not to run each other over on our desce-"

"I call first!" Amethyst yelled over her, before cannonballing into the hole, her whips snapping taught and yanking Peridot in after her, the green gem screaming like a deranged cat as she fell into the void face-first. The other gems waited, and when they heard an impact, Pearl went next. Steven watched her go, smiling. Going down there was always cool; in the three times he had been down there, he had always found something n-

An icy cold went straight up his back, every hair on his body standing right up.

He couldn't explain it; one minute, he was perfectly fine, but the next, he could feel a chill in his core, alarms ringing like church bells in his head,  
like he was in danger, but there was no danger...As he looked around, he tried to calm himself. Nobody was dropping down on him, screaming with weapons drawn. Nobody had any ranged weapons, nothing was falling from the sky...

He was just being watched, was all.

His eyes passed over the spot two times before he noticed what was there on the third pass, and he froze so quick, he stopped himself from blinking. He slowly brought his gaze back to the spot, a wrinkle in the canyon's otherwise smooth shape, and peeking from the wrinkle was a figure. Even without an immediately visible face, Steven could feel that they were staring at him...staring through him, more like.

The figure looked almost comedically evil. They were dressed from head-to-shins in a big, black cloak, so dark that he had only noticed it because it was darker than the shadows around it. He couldn't tell how tall or how big they were from here, but they couldn't have been too big based on where they were standing. Nevertheless, he almost felt an aura around the figure, though they had remained so still Steven was beginning to believe it was a statue, and he had been too quick to judge. But then, right as he was about to say something, an arm slowly emerged from within the cloak, slim and athletic with skin black as night, and perfectly-manicured black nails. The arm was wearing a bracelet of some kind, and the forearm looked like it was a Home-world suit design. As the figure raised their finger, the hood moved back a little, only giving him view of a mouth that slowly split into a too-wide smile, with teeth far too white to be normal. The figure raised their hand up to their mouth, one finger placing on their lips-

 ** _"_ _Shhhhh..."_**

He hadn't heard it; the sound had hit him like a physical force, like his own brain had made the sound. It felt like the wind had rushed at him,  
and all of his hairs stood up again. He stared at the figure, stunned, trying to see if he could make out any other noteworthy features. But then, right as he thought he caught sight of an eye, the arm retreated into the cloak so fast he almost missed it, and the hood drew back to hide their whole face, and the figure turned slightly. They sprinted across the canyon-he could think of no other word to use for speed such as the figure's-and put up a foot, actually taking three steps up the cliff before pushing off, doing a backflip and landing on an Injector imbedded in the wall. Then, the figure leaped from Injector to hole, to hole, back and forth across the canyon with speed and grace like he hadn't seen before. Then, right before they reached the top, the figure left his sight and didn't return, and a hush fell over his ears.

His mind was racing immediately. What was that?! Who was that?! Given the circumstances, his mind immediately fell on the Hunters, but...no, that would be impossible! They couldn't have gotten here that fast! Could they?  
He shook his head. No...Olivine had said these Hunter gems were...well, he was sure they weren't as bad as she had said, but even then, she had said they were evil, and relentless. If that had been one of the Hunters, why had she not just attacked? He nodded slowly to himself. Yeah...if it had been a Hunter, she would've just attacked, if they were so scary and tough. And that was if that had been a gem at all! He certainly hadn't seen a gemstone anywhere on her...But then, what could that have been? He had never seen anybody with black skin before, and what little he had seen of that outfit had looked like the suit Peridot, and even Jasper wore around...His head almost hurt trying to think it all through...

"Steven!" A hand suddenly shook him. He yelped, whipping around to face Garnet, who looked concerned as she kneeled next to him.  
"Steven...are you okay?" She asked. "We've called you a few times now."  
"Oh, uh..." He shook his head quickly to clear it. "Yeah...yeah, I'm fine, Garnet, don't worry!" He tried on a convincing smile. "Sorry, just...got distracted. I thought I saw something over there," He pointed to where the figure had gone, "but it's gone now."

Garnet stared at where he pointed, silent for a moment.

"Garnet?" Pearl's voice echoed from the darkness below. "Garnet, is everything okay? Is Steven alright?"  
"Yes, he's fine!" Garnet called down, then patted the boy. "Come on, Steven. Whatever it was, we can..." She glanced at where Steven had pointed.  
"...investigate, later, when we have the time. For now, let's focus on this Cluster issue."

Steven nodded, taking one last look at the top of the canyon before jumping into the large hole. As Garnet followed him down, neither of them noticed the figure in black, hiding in one of the holes in the wall, watching silently as their face split into another too-wide smile.  
Exactly as planned...

Steven slid to the bottom, stumbling as he went from rough stone to smooth metal without warning, Garnet stopping him from falling as she reached the bottom after him. After dusting themselves (and each other, with a little giggling from Steven) off, they joined the others, who had all gathered in the middle of the room where the panel sat, Peridot rubbing her wrists as Amethyst freed her from her binds. She put one hand on the panel, and it opened into a series of files and maps which she guided with her free hand. She did not sound happy as Steven approached.

"You're all a bunch of clods...!" She spat quietly. "Half of these files are completely disorganized because of your snooping, and now I have to sort through dozens of these stupid reports just to...ah, finally!" She groaned as the worded files that Steven and Amethyst had been reading in their last visit gave way to diagrams and maps. She selected one of the Earth, pouting a lip as she turned it back and forth.

"Should be...right...about...oh, of course," She groaned, as a big red X appeared on-screen. "The files here are about as corrupted as the messes of gems lying around here. I can't pinpoint the location from here, and the only other computer with that information is locked behind Code 5 encryption. Easy enough for me to crack, but this computer won't give me a location!"

"Well, if it's something that complex," Pearl mused, "it would have to be the old Moon Base, yes?"  
"Moon Base?!" Steven said. "Are you kidding?! You guys have a base on the moon and didn't say anything?!"  
Pearl smiled and patted his head, then scratched her chin. "Well, it's not accessible by Warp Pad, so that might be an issue..."  
"What about Lion?" Steven asked. "He can take us anywhere!"  
Pearl nodded. "Lion would work, actually...Perhaps we can do that!"

"...Right..." Peridot said in a confused tone, and she turned back and moved things around the model as she spoke. "Well, it would be practically useless information, anyway. No matter where it is, getting to the Cluster is an entirely different feat than finding it, we could try to reach it from any spot on the planet and only have a 14.334 percent chance of even hitting it, and that's if we ignore the fact that the mantle of this dirtball would melt us all before we even got there... we would have to-"

"Why don't we just dig?" Mike asked, looking over the map. "I mean...people dig here on Earth, right?"  
"Of course they do, clod, digging is the most basic motion ever, a motivated hunk of metal could do it!" Peridot snapped, which earned her a light smack off the back of the head from Olivine. "...And while that is the obvious course of action to reach something underground, we cannot just dig into the mantle of the PLANET! We would be incinerated before we made it half-"

"Well, hang on...!" Steven said, popping up next to Peridot. "Why can't we dig down there? Gems had to have dug down there before to put it there, maybe we can dig the same way to get to it!"  
"Recreating their digging patterns would be a catastrophic waste of resource...!" Peridot paused, swiping through the screen and poking at a few places on the surface. "...That...might actually...work." She turned to Steven. "How could you have ever guessed that?"  
He shrugged. "Pirates bury treasure so other pirates can dig it up again, right? If you can reach the spot once, you can reach it again!"  
Peridot blinked slowly. "...Every word in that sentence makes me wish you had just shattered me," She grumbled, turning back to the screen. "Well...we could reach it, but that's only if we somehow manage to make a drill that could somehow copy the efforts of the mass-excavating units used during the war...!"

"Well, it would just need to reach the Cluster by itself, right?" Pearl asked. "Not only that, but based on your little warship incident, it's clear that the materials you build with now are far more durable than the things used when they first buried the Cluster. We repaired your escape pod...perhaps we could-"

She was interrupted as Peridot released a loud peal of laughter, slapping her knee and cackling as she tried to catch her breath. Her laughter echoed across the dark chamber, and it took her a second to calm herself.  
"Ah...oh my...oh-ho, my..." She wiped away a tear. "Oh, my stars, that is rich, thank you, Pearl," Peridot gave her a little push away. "Now, if you would allow the actual brains of our little...group...do her work, thank you..."

Pearl looked so affronted she couldn't immediately speak, but Peridot didn't seem to notice. "Hm...now," The green gem said, "if we're to make a drill, we would need the materials durable enough to reach the Cluster, though...I suppose it would not need to recreate the entire operation of the Cluster's burial, as it would only need to transport a few of us to the location...and, as Home-world's technology has advanced far beyond anything we could have had back then, building the drill could be easier if we used some more recent materials, such as bits from the warship, or my escape pod..."

Garnet, Amethyst and Steven looked shocked, and Steven noted Olivine had gone almost three shades paler, as Pearl grit her teeth hard enough to hear.  
"...Of course," Pearl said. "How could I have not thought of that?"  
"Oh, well, it's to be expected," Peridot said absentmindedly, waving a hand. "You are a Pearl, after all..."

Olivine had to wrap her arms under Pearl's to keep her from attacking the green gem, and she eventually calmed down, sighing. "...Fine. So, we'll head for the Moon Base, then. Find the location of the Cluster?"

Peridot rolled her eyes. "Yes, Pearl, we will do that. Stars, do you always let her chat this much?" She turned to Amethyst. "How do you live with such an incessant chattering?"

Amethyst shrugged with an uneasy smirk. "You get used to it."

"...Mm, yes, well..." Peridot said, swiping through a few more things, "I'm sure we can get used to it later, once I'm done sweeping the perimeter and ensuring our safe exit...oh, come on! You clods ruined my cameras, too?!"

"What?" Mike and Steven said together, popping up on either side of her. "Your cameras?"  
"Yes, my cameras, you clods!" Peridot said, pointing at the screen. the corner displayed the words "CM1," but the screen was only static. The same could be said for the other eight cameras on her screen, each of them static.  
"You smashed all of my cameras!" Peridot exclaimed. "How did you even find them, they were hidden in discreet locations to ensure proper security!"  
"Uh...Peridot," Steven said, "...we didn't wreck the cameras."  
"Yeah!" Mike said. "They warned us about a mutant attack yesterday, when we came to visit!"  
"Yeah, it was all 'Security Breach!'" Amethyst said in a hammy voice. "Totally freaked out."

Peridot paused. "...Wait...if these cameras were working yesterday, then what would have...?"

The sound of something massive hitting the ground with a meaty thunk echoed around the room. Every gem in the room immediately drew their weapons and whipped around, save for Peridot, who yanked her hand from the pad and whimpered as she shielded herself from nothing. Mike looked the most scared of them all, but said nothing.

There was the sound of something dragging in the dark, but the echo hid its source. Garnet stepped forward.

"Who's there?!" She said. "Come out, and you will not be-!"

"Come...out?" A voice said in a loud whisper from the darkness. "Why would we...come out? We are...fine...right where we are, aren't we, yesssss " The voice devolved to a hiss for a moment as a shape moved across the bridge to the elevator, a tail that Steven could have fit inside sliding across the walkway and slapping the ground with another thunk.  
"Why would we...come out?" The voice asked again. "To allow the...intrudersss...to ssssee ussss ? No, no...we cannot be sssseen, we are fine...  
Ooo, but sssuch tasssty treatssss have wandered thisss way..." The slithering continued to echo all around them as they all felt the presence of watching eyes. They all moved into a circle to guard each other's backs, but this did not seem to perturb the watcher.

"Sssso many tasssty treatsss " The voice repeated. "Look, look, ssssee, sssso many different choicessss " A gross kind of warmth seemed to waft over them as whoever this was slithered just out of sight, drawing as close as they could without being seen in the light. "I have tried ssssso many Pearlsss, the tassste hasss grown sssso boring..." A blast of hot air hit Pearl's face as something sniffed her loudly, but when she lunged with her spear, there was nothing there, and the voice had moved.

"Mmm...The little Quartzesss, yesss " The voice said. "Sssuch masssss, sssso much to work with...but thisss one issss ssspoiled but it may ssstill tassste ssso lovely..."

"Oh, call me spoiled again, pal, I swear I'll-!" Amethyst's retort died in her throat as she felt a thin, warm tongue caress her cheek, and she looked at the source with wide eyes, but there was nothing to see.

"Oh, the fussssionssss...they alwaysss left ssssomething in our mouth..." The voice whispered with a note of hunger in their voice. "But they were alwaysss...a sssurprissse...do you have both tassstesss, I wonder...? Or a tassste...all your own?"

Garnet fired her gauntlets with a shout of frustration, the explosion lighting up part of the room and showing a horrifying, humanoid silhouette in the fires, reptilian eyes wide and glaring before plunging the room back into possibly even more oppressing darkness. Olivine had launched herself at where the shape had been, but like the others, her weapon had hit open air.

"What is this?!" Peridot shrieked. "What horrors does your planet keep holding?!"

"You...I remember you..." The voice trailed, but it wasn't certain who she was talking to, though the next in the circle, Mike, was the best candidate. "We remember the darknesss...We remember the pain...and we remember your handssss " Instead of a tongue, Mike felt a scaled finger slowly draw down his cheek, and he seemed too petrified to move, even after it had retracted.

"And...you..." The voice hissed, and Steven saw a pair of bright green reptilian eyes open in the space in front of him, each as big as both of his fists. "...We have ssssmelled the gemsss...we have ssssmelled the humansss...but you...you are different."

"...Yeah...!" Steven gulped, trying not to blink. "I, uh...I get that a lot...!"  
"You...you will be an interesssting one to tassste...so many tasssty treatssss, yesss " The eyes closed, and he felt the presence slide away into the darkness.

There was a very pregnant pause. All of the gems looked this way and that for the source; the way this thing moved, it seemed to have them surrounded all by itself. Peridot cowered and whimpered against the panel, mumbling under her breath as an oppressive silence overtook their position.

And then, a whisper in Peridot's ear.  
"Sssso many tasssty treatsss " It repeated once more. "But we like the...sssscreaming onesss the bessst "

Peridot shrieked right as Garnet pivoted. "Gems!" She barked, and they all turned to see Peridot hurl herself towards the elevator, away from the huge, serpentine shape that was now hanging from the ceiling. As they watched, the massive beast dropped bodily from the ceiling, sounding like somebody had dropped a truck on the floor in front of them. The green eyes stared from the coiled mass of green that quickly disappeared into the shadows again to avoid being seen.

"We...will enjoy devouring you...!" The voice hissed, before fangs the size of Steven's whole arm flashed in the lights.

"RUN!" Garnet snapped, grabbing Steven and yanking him back, right as the fangs dug in where the boy had been. Steven yelped a little, and all the gems took the cue, running for the elevator as the shape took off in hot pursuit. Garnet threw Amethyst and Pearl over her shoulders, and Olivine seized Mike and Peridot by their hands and spread her wings, before the two bigger gems shot up into the air, Garnet jumping as Olivine flapping her powerful wings, and Mike felt the fangs of the monster as it coiled itself and launched after them, the teeth drawing so close to his feet he felt their presence. But the monster apparently lacked the jumping power of the two larger gems, and the passengers watched the beast hiss and snarl in rage as it fell back into the darkness, and Steven saw its horrible reptilian eyes glare through him before it vanished completely.

Garnet and Olivine didn't stop until they reached the top of the Kindergarten's canyons, and only then did they slow down, Olivine gasping as she dropped her two passengers to the ground and flopping into the dirt, Garnet only giving the barest of rough breaths as she set her three down herself. Steven looked over the edge of the canyon, the red fusion holding him to steady him.

"...I don't see her," He said. "I...I don't think she followed us out."

"What...the hell...was THAT?!" Olivine shouted. "Look, G, I was all for fighting for the Ee-arth-"  
"Earth," Peridot said distractedly through her heavy breathing, as if proving her intellect was a reaction built into her.  
"I will cut you," Olivine hissed, then turned back. "Listen, G...if that's what chills out on Earth now, I will happily glass this side of the county with enough fire to make Ruby jealous...!"  
"That was not local fauna," Pearl said, glancing over the canyon's edge herself. "That...nothing on Earth but humans can speak as fluently as that..."  
"And gems," Amethyst added.  
That statement left a powerful presence over them all by itself. Steven looked around at them all.

"...Was...was that...?" Steven tried. "Was that one of the Hunt-"  
"No," Olivine interrupted. "One of them's called the Animal, but she isn't built like one."  
"Then...we saw that thing almost looked...like a human, right?" Amethyst asked. "Because...unless I missed something in this whole...'evolution' thing...I'm pretty sure that was a gem."

"...It was," Mike said, the only one of them not breathing heavily. "She was a gem."

"...And...how would you know this?" Peridot asked.  
"Yeah, kid," Olivine said, raising an eyebrow. "How would you know that?"  
Mike shook his head, already visibly regretting opening his mouth. "We...we can talk about that later. Right now, we have a job to do, right?"

"Indeed," Pearl said, and her very voice made Peridot groan. "We have a job to do. Gems...let's go find Lion." She looked up into the sky, where the setting sun was now giving illumination to Earth's biggest satellite.

"We have a Moon Base to visit."

* * *

 _ **We hope you enjoyed, and hope it was worth the wait! We will see you next time, in chapter 9, which we sincerely promise will not take anywhere near as long a wait as this did! But we hope we managed to grab your interest once more! Goodbye for now!**_


	9. Chapter IX: The Mysterious Text

**_Heya! Been a looong time, hasn't it? Yeah, we've been taking a break just in case SU the Movie and Future would provide any new lore and/or info we could use. Spoilers...yes. Yes, yes, so much YES. But we're back now, and ready to continue the story of the Crystal Gems (And Steven!) VS. The Hunters!_**

 ** _We hope you enjoy, check out our DA page at zenny-boy and leave reviews and favs, it means the world to us to know your thoughts and questions!_**

 ** _Without any further ado, after all this time...let's begin!_**

* * *

It had been a simple task to find Lion; the shaking of a Lion Licker wrapper from Steven was all it took, and the big cat seemed to materialize out of thin air, eliciting a high-pitched shriek from Peridot as she leaped up into Olivine's arms.

"What is that?!" She had squealed. "I knew it, you are all trying to kill me!"

"What? No!" Steven had laughed, petting Lion's head. "This is Lion! He just likes to lay around and eat! He's totally harmless!"  
The eye contact between the green gem and pink feline, that had ended with Lion growling at her, had not boosted the green gem's spirits.

While finding Lion had been more than easy, coaxing him into letting them ride him had been a far more difficult task. After half an hour of trying, they eventually managed it by luring him into the house with another Lion Licker, then having everyone jump onto his back once they were behind him. It had resulted in teleport trips to Paris, London and Venice, but eventually, they convinced Lion to take them back home, and after an argument with Peridot about the logistics of letting a fully-grown lion wander freely around any kind of populated area ("He's potty-trained!" Steven had said, to which Peridot had simply leaned back into the couch, gone limp, and refused to answer anyone), they all loaded onto Lion's mane, Steven and Peridot poking their heads out, and the group set off, Lion ripping open a portal with a roar and sending them through a kaleidoscope of colors that drove Peridot to scream as Steven cheered like it was a rollercoaster.

Just as quickly as they had set off, they popped out the other side, sliding to a stop and bonking into the wall. Lion didn't move, and after giving him a treat for his hard work, Steven hopped out of the mane and looked around as the others followed him out.

The room was massive, the ceiling soaring off above them, with murals carved into the walls around them, each a different color. The room itself was a dark blue, and looked far too fancy to have been abandoned on purpose.

"Whoa..." He said. "THIS is the moon base?"  
"Wait wait, lemme check!" Amethyst said, rushing over to a door with a holographic pad next to it. She hit it, and the door opened, a vacuum immediately almost sucking all of them out while the outside was revealed to indeed be the moon. Amethyst closed it just as fast, turning to the others with a wide smile. "Duuuuude! We're on the moon!"

"No way!" Steven said, before jumping and doing spins in the air as he floated around. "Woo-hoo! Look at me! I'm a moon boy!"

"Heck yeah! Moon boys!" Amethyst said, before jumping, and immediately slamming back onto the floor with a brutal clank. "...Ow. Aww..." She rolled over to a sitting position. "What gives? I wanna be a moon boy!"

A snicker, and they all turned to Peridot, who was trying not to laugh. Realizing she was the center of attention, she rolled her eyes and adopted the most know-it-all expression Steven had ever seen.

"Well, I mean..." The green gem said. "You're a gem, you clod. We adapt automatically to any atmosphere we're in."  
They paused, before Olivine spoke. "...How the heck does that wo-"

"Ap-ap-ap!" Peridot waved a hand. "We don't have time to find words small enough for you to understand so I can explain it. Let's go! We're wasting time!"

After keeping Olivine from murdering Peridot, the whole group of them soon made their way up a floating staircase, finding a strange room with only an orb to occupy it, but continued on to what looked like a control room, overlooking the planet. A truly monstrous chair sat in the middle of the room, and it was this that Peridot seemed interested in. Helicoptering up to it with her hand and landing in the seat with a grumble, she began fiddling with the computer, though any action she attempted required some kind of key.

"What do you mean, 'access denied?!'" She hissed at the screen as Steven jumped and clambered up next to her. "I am a Peridot, you infernal machine, and I demand you treat me with-!"

And then it suddenly gave an "access granted!" before opening up to the files she was hunting for. She slowly looked at Steven, who had touched one of the access pads they had seen everywhere, this one sitting in the arm of the chair. Grumbling about stupid computers and humans, Peridot began scanning the files, before slapping in what looked like a rather fancy flash drive into the computer. She began saving whatever she could, her tongue sticking out.

"Cluster, Cluster, Cluster...Aha!" She said, pulling up pictures as the others climbed up as well. "Here we go. Diagrams, estimations...and here it is." She triumphantly pulled up a screen that showed Earth, with a terrifyingly large mass within it. "The Cluster. Buried about twenty quarketers below the Earth's surface."

"That's...big," Olivine squeaked. "And how do we expect to get through that?"  
"Well, if you had paid attention," Peridot scoffed, "you would know we already have the materials necessary; plenty of Home-world technology is sitting, wasted and rotting on this awful dirtball, and we could easily pull it apart and design a drill that could withstand such intense heats."

"Hey, Peridot," Steven said, holding up a strange, prismatic device he found in the seat next to him. "Is this important?"  
"Is what impor-" Peridot began to ask as she turned, before she froze. She snatched it from his hands so fast it almost hurt, and the green gem turned her back to all of them, and began looking it over.

"Unbelievable...!" She said in quiet awe. "They would hide one of these here?"  
"Um...Peridot?" Steven asked. "What's wrong? Is that dangerous?"

He saw Peridot stiffen. "Uh..." She said, before she suddenly threw it across the room, where it smacked on the window and clattered to the floor. "Yes! Yes, very dangerous! Definitely...definitely belonged here, at the tower for this ball of nothing..."

"Y'know..." Steven said. "You...could try giving Earth a chance. It's a pretty awesome place!"  
"Ah-pbblt!" Peridot made a weird sound, giving a dismissive wave. "Please. This place is full of meat and dirt. It's disgusting! And so many resources wasted. Now, if Home-world had gotten to delegate this stuff-"  
"Billions would have died," Pearl said in a warning tone. "And that is an irrevocable wrong."  
"Oh, please," Peridot said. "What would have died? Weird furry things? Awful scaly monsters? Pfft!" She folded her arms. "As if that was worth all the gems that were lost during the war. Not to mention that it didn't even matter, because now the Cluster is going to erupt and render all of that death obsolete! So thank you, you fine rebel scum, you sacrificed millions of perfectly good gems just to delay the Earth's destruction!"

There was a long pause as they all glared at her, save Steven and Mike, who both looked nervous. Peridot didn't notice until it was too late, and then Garnet seized her by the collar and picked her up to eye level.  
"Now you listen here," She said, dangerously quiet. "Our friends, our family, died for so much more than that, and you know it. They fought for freedom. Peace. A place where they could live, despite not being completely perfect. They fought for life, and everything that entailed."

Peridot scoffed again; she was good at that. "Please. If they were defective, they should have been shattered. All they were doing was cluttering up the-"

Before Garnet could say anything, a green hand suddenly seized the green gem and ripped her from the fusion's grasp, and used the momentum to throw Peridot like a baseball, the gem smashing into the computer terminal and crushing it into a broken heap, bursting through the back of it and going tumbling across the room to slam painfully against the window. She turned to her new assaulter, now cut up by shards of metal, and pressed against the window.

"So," Olivine said, her voice dripping with venom as she began walking towards Peridot, wings outstretched and stiff, visibly trembling with rage. Pearl and Amethyst tried to grab her arms, but she simply bent her wings in to push them away when she spread them again.

"We're not holding our tongues now. Good." She reached Peridot, then seized her collar and slammed her against the window. "Then I'll be loose, too; you're a pawn, you green twerp. Home-world wouldn't send one Ruby to come collect your entitled stone. The Hunters are here by chance." She pulled Peridot in until they were almost touching noses. "You're not in a bubble because we're working together. To save that 'dirtball' that millions of my family died to protect. But if I hear you give one word to the Hunters, to the Diamonds, to anybody on Home-world...I will consider the truce off." Now they were touching noses. "And nothing in either galaxy will ever protect you from me. That get through to ya?"

Peridot gulped, nodding frantically. "Yes...yes, you psycho clod! I submit!"

"Olivine!" Steven said, and now the larger green gem noticed he was pulling on her arm. The boy looked beyond terrified. "Please..." He said. "Let her go. Pearl managed to save the flash drive. We're done here."  
Olivine slowly looked back at Peridot, before dropping her unceremoniously. "Fine," She said, turning on a heel and taking to the air, gliding to the stairs. "I was done, anyway."

Steven watched her go, and sighed.  
...Man...That could have gone so much better. He licked his hand and began treating Peridot's wounds, to the green gem's incredible discomfort. He knew Olivine was more...hot-headed, than Garnet. But...that was something else. She totally lost it there...He exhaled rather loudly, treating the last of Peridot's injuries before sitting back on his legs.

"There," He said. "Does it still hurt?"  
"Er...no, thank you." She got up. "Come, then. They will be leaving without us soon...we should get to the strange animal as fast as we can."

Steven nodded as Peridot made for the door, then glanced out the window, at the Earth. To think...there was a behemoth sitting just under the surface of that. He shuddered, and looked away to avoid any more thoughts on that.

And in doing so, watched Peridot tuck something into her gem. He caught a quick glimpse of prismatic stone...was that...?  
His brow furrowing, he got up, following quickly after her.  
Once this was handled...Peridot might have more questions to answer.

* * *

They were all silent on the journey home, Steven occasionally passing a glance at Peridot when she was too busy panicking about Lion's teleportation to notice. She had clearly taken that device. But what was it? Some kind of weapon? A teleporter? It definitely looked like nothing he had seen before...  
They slid out of the portal and stopped in front of the barn, and Lion decided he had enough, flopping onto the ground with an exhausted huff and giving a long, drawn-out groan as the other gems left his mane. Steven patted him on the head, smiling.  
"Thanks, bud," He said, pulling another Lion Licker from his pocket. "I'd offer you this, but...it looks like you're really tired, so-"  
He didn't even finish before Lion had jumped to his feet and snagged it from him. The feline gave a long, dramatic stretch, then paced over to the shady area of the barn and curled up, chewing on the ice cream with vigor. Steven laughed, then turned as Peridot gave instructions.

"So!" She said. "We will need to divide into groups to...ensure optimal efficiency." She looked uncomfortable again. "We will need to split the work to...fit our needs-can you please stop doing that while we're trying to work?"  
The group turned collectively to see what she was talking about, and found Garnet, leaning on the side of the barn, pursing a lip and looking around herself.  
"Doing...what?" She said, with the tone of someone who knew the answer.  
"Th...That!" Perdot gestured to all of Garnet. "This...nonsense! It is utterly innaporpriate for a work environment! Will you please just unfuse?"  
"Let me think..." Garnet said, tapping her chin. "...No. But I bet Olivine wouldn't mind you asking."

Peridot turned the other way to look at Olivine, whose wings were folded up to let her lean on the barn as well, and they could all almost hear her icy glare through her glasses. She slowly bit into...upon closer inspection, Steven saw she was simply biting into an entire red bell pepper, not an apple...without breaking eye contact with Peridot, who gulped and, now sweating, turned back to the others.  
"...Well!" She said, her voice wavering. "Let's get to work! So, Steven, I will need you to..."

Divvying up the work proved to be Peridot's forte-"definitely not a sign of her character," Steven heard Amethyst remark later-and soon they were all doing their own levels of work. Pearl and Peridot were drawing up the plans and proportions, much to Peridot's chagrin at first, but under Olivine's withering gaze, the lime-green gem learned to make it work. Occasionally, Peridot would help move things with her gravity fields, or work with the wires inside the system, while Pearl insisted on handling the more dangerous tools, such as the welder. Olivine herself was working with Garnet, the two larger gems doing the heavy lifting and moving all of the metal panels and other devices into place as needed. Amethyst and Steven were working on the finer things; Steven was teaching Peridot and Mike how all of the different tools worked, and using them to screw or nail things together, pry things out, or anything else the green gem needed. Amethyst was the shaper; she was taking whatever pieces of metal that needed bending and bended them, which she seemed to enjoy. Once the lessons were over, Mike was given a station and instructed to use the spare tools to build up pieces as shown in a small booklet Peridot had given him.

It was all going rather smoothly, all things considered. Progress was delayed occasionally by the need to go out and retrieve more metals from crashed Home-world ships, but they were making good time. Steven, without something to hammer at the moment, walked over to Mike, smiling.  
"Hey, Mike!" He said. "How's it going over here?"  
Mike looked a little distraught. "Um...i-it's going okaaaay..."  
When Steven glanced over Mike's shoulder, he saw that, in fact, he had done nothing; the pieces and tools were all separated.  
He raised an eyebrow. "...Buuut?"  
"U-Uh...!" Mike turned to him. "...I don't have any of the bumpy pieces. None of these pieces are bumpy, and it needs bumpy pieces."  
"Bumpy...? May I see that, Mike?" Steven asked, looking over the instructions when Mike handed them over. Immediately, he saw a problem. "...Mike...did Peridot give this one to you?"  
"Um...I think?" He said. "I...I put it down earlier, during lunch, and when I came back, someone put a big pile of stuff on top of it." He was tapping his fingers together. "Uh...I-I couldn't remember what it looked like, so...I think that was the right one, though, right?"  
Steven blinked, before unfolding the laminated paper, then unfolding it again, and again, until he had one big paper in his hands. "...Mike, this is a LEGO instruction book. For a Barry Otter castle. I...I don't think they even make this set anymore. Where did you get this?"  
Mike was pale now. "Uh...I...I dunno! It was just in the pile, I...I thought it was my booklet!" He folded his hands. "Please, don't be mad! I'll do better this time, I'll get the right instructions!"

"Wh-mad?" Steven said. "Mike, it's okay! It was just a mistake. Why would I get mad?"  
Mike looked...almost amazed. "...Y...You're not mad? At all?"  
"No!" Steven said, laughing. "No, no, you just made a mistake! C'mon, let's go find your real booklet. Where was this pile of papers?"  
Mike had the biggest smile Steven ever saw on him as he jumped to his feet. "It was in the darn-"  
"Barn," Steven corrected with a smile. "It's called a barn."  
Mike nodded with an even bigger smile. "Yeah, the barn. There's a big pile of papers..."

It was harder to find than Steven had first assumed; apparently, Amethyst had dropped a huge pile of clothes and papers in a corner of the barn so she could nap on it. It took a while to sift through it all, especially when Amethyst did, in fact, come over and nap on it, but they eventually found the right booklet, and Mike excitedly went back to work. Steven came out of the barn and sighed contently, watching Mike now hammering two piece of metal together and looking ecstatic about it.

"Well done," Steven jumped, turning to see Garnet leaning on the side of the barn again. She gave a thumbs-up, and Steven chuckled.  
"Oh, hey, Garnet," Steven said. "Yeah, he...he had the wrong book, but he looks like he's really getting it now."  
Garnet nodded, as Olivine dropped down next to her and dusted her hands off.  
"Looks like a good place to call it a night," Olivine said, stretching her hands over her head and yawned as her wings unfolded to their widest span. She scratched her neck as they folded back up, and leaned next to Garnet, now eating a green bell pepper. They were watching Mike work, who seemed oblivious to their eyes.  
"...So you just found him?" Garnet said. "In a cell, next to you?"  
Olivine nodded. "Oh, yeah," She said. "He said he knew the way out of there, and it was a simple enough endeavor to get them to open the cells." She smirked. "Everyone always falls for the 'hide over the cell door and make them think you escaped so they open the door and then you really do escape' trick."

Garnet smirked. "Well, you are the master at that. How many jails did that make?"  
Olivine counted on her fingers. "...Twwwwwenty. Twenty, yeah. No-no...Twenty-one, counting that time I didn't even make it to the cell before escaping."  
Garnet actually laughed a little, which earned a surprised look from Steven. "...Incredible," Garnet said. "And that was 6,000 years of your life?"  
"Eh, 5,376," Olivine said, taking another bite of her pepper. "But who's counting?"

There was a sigh, and they all saw Pearl coming over, toweling off engine grease with a look of satisfaction. "Ah...well, I think the engine needs a moment to cool, so we should be fine for this evening," She said. "What are we all talking about?"  
"Mike," Garnet said. "What's going on with him."  
Pearl nodded. "Oh...yes. Olivine, you spent the most time with him. Is he really a gem?"  
"Oh, definitely," She said. "I'd recognize a Hematite anywhere...even if he is pretty messed up."  
"Maybe he's like me?" Steven offered. "He could be half-human. I mean, I'm a boy, so..."  
"No..." Olivine said. "He definitely poofed on the ship, he...wait. Do you poof?"  
Steven started sweating. "U-Uh..."  
"No, he does not!" Pearl said immediately, stepping between them. "He can be harmed like any human, Olivine, there will be none of that!"

Olivine shrugged. "A'ight. Then...he is a gem, then."  
"His stone definitely doesn't look like anything I've seen," Garnet said. "The design is familiar, though..."  
And then Steven remembered.  
The Kindergarten. Amethyst, Mike and he had gone there, found files on the computer terminal, from someone named Morganite, who was working on the Cluster.

She had been furious in the last one. But that report...  
"Now we've got a mutant on the field," The report had read, "and the Diamonds have instructed me to keep it. It looks like it's easy to dispose of, at least, given its small size, but it's made from..."

Just before he put two and two together, his phone suddenly buzzed. He pulled it out, and saw he had a text. From...Mike?  
He looked over to the strange gem, but he was still hard at work building whatever it was that Peridot had instructed him to build. His confusion growing, Steven opened the text.

 _"Hello,"_ It read. _"Um_ (whoever texted "um?" Steven wondered) _...I'm sorry to bother you, but I just found this phone, and this was the only contact. Is this Steven?"_  
The boy pursed a lip. Mike had lost his phone? Where had he lost it?  
 _"Yeah!"_ He texted back. _"This is Steven. Thanks for finding his phone! Could I ask who this is?"_  
He tried to listen to the other gems' theories, but now he was anxious. When had Mike lost his phone, and who had just found it? Nobody ever texted their phones if they were lost; he had custom phone cases made, so people would know where to return them. After a pause, he got an answer.

 _"Of course! My name's Abby,"_ The text read. Abby? He didn't know an Abby. _"I just found this phone outside the pizza place. Fishew, right? It was on the ground. I tried to visit the address on the case, but nobody was home. Is there some time I should come by?"_  
Steven pursed a lip again. Now he was curious.  
 _"Sure!"_ He said. _"How about we meet by the pizza place, noon tomorrow? We can get a pizza, my treat."_  
This reply was instant. _"Sounds awesome! I'll be getting out of work, so I might be a minute late, but that totally works! I'll see you then."_  
 _It was then immediately followed by another, which only said "\\(^-^)/"_

Steven smiled, putting his phone away.  
"And who was that?" Garnet asked. Steven jumped again; Garnet had a bad habit of giving you her attention when you didn't realize it.  
"Oh! Uh..." Steven said. "Uh, apparently Mike lost his phone near the pizza place. Somebody found it, so I'm...meeting her tomorrow to get it."  
"Oh, well, Mike has proven clumsy," Pearl said. "He must have dropped it when we weren't looking."  
Olivine suddenly looked interested. "...A meeting, huh?...Is she cute?"  
"Oooh, no!" Pearl said, wagging a finger at the green gem. "You are not doing this again, Olivine! The war was bad enough!"

"Oh, c'mon, P!" The winged gem said. "It's so grim around here!"  
"Even so, we will not be having any of your nonsense here!" Pearl said.  
"Besides," Garnet said with a smile, "I heard there's a pair getting out of work right now, over at the doughnut place. They've been giving each other looks for years. Might be a better catch."  
Olivine gave a weird "squee" sound. "Say no more! I'm on it!"  
And then she was gone with a mighty flap of her wings, the gust almost knocking Steven over. He looked up, but she was already gone. He turned to the other two.  
"...What was that?" He asked.  
"Oh...Olivine always had a bad habit of...what do they call it here, Garnet?" Pearl turned to her fellow.  
"Matchmaking," Garnet replied. "Even during the war, Olivine was very keen to notice any kind of potentially romantic tension between anyone. She loved making others fall in love. A genuine Cupid. Wings and all."  
Steven smiled. "Aw...that's so sweet! Does she have anyone she loves?"  
The two gems looked at each other.  
"...Yeah," Garnet said with another smile. "Yes, she does."

"Ex-CUUUUUSE me?!" Peridot suddenly said, storming up. "What are we doing here?! We have a drill to build! The world is ending here!"  
"It's alright, Peridot," Garnet said.  
"We've done what we can today," Pearl added. "We're all tired, so we're taking a break. We'll continue tomorrow morning."  
"Unbelievable!" Peridot said. "So I must continue this work all by myself?!"  
"If you're so inclined," Garnet said. "But we recommend a break to unwind."  
"Unwind?! Unwind?!" Peridot almost shrieked. "The entire planet is going to explode with me on it, and you want me to relax?!" She turned and grabbed a piece of metal. "No, thank you! I wish to live!" She grumbled some more as she stormed off again, and the others all shared a smile.  
"Charmer," Garnet said.  
"Well...I guess she'll come around eventually," Steven said. "I'm sure she'll see Earth is nice...someday."  
Pearl smiled. "Your optimism is infectious, Steven," She said. "Now...I suppose we should be getting some rest. Would anyone like some pie? I think I'm in the mood to craft one."  
"I do! I do!" Steven laughed. "Your pies are the best!"  
"Did we say PIE?!" Amethyst suddenly landed on Garnet's afro. "I want pie!"  
"Of course you do," Garnet said with a smirk. "You're awake."  
"Hey, don't hate!" The purple gem said as they walked off. "Just feed me cake!"

Steven laughed, and Pearl rolled her eyes.  
"Come along, then," She said. "I suppose I must make it before Amethyst consumes the raw ingredients...again..."  
As she followed them, Steven looked at his phone, still open to the text menu. This Abby seemed alright...hopefully she was as nice as she seemed in text.  
But not eager to miss the food, he pocketed his phone, bid a goodbye to Peridot, and hurried off after the others.

* * *

 _ **Hope you enjoyed! And it's good to be back!**_


End file.
